'■•ii-j; 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


EXBIELIOTHECA 
FRANC.  BABINQER 


FORTY   YEARS    IN 
CONSTANTINOPLE 


EXEIBLIOTHECA 
F:  AI^aCABlNGliR 


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EX  BIELIOTOECA 

FPANaBABINGER 


TllK    AUTHOR    IN    I915 


FORTY  YEARS  IN 
CONSTANTINOPLE 

THE  RECOLLECTIONS  OF 
SIR  EDWIN  PEARS  1873-1915 
WITH     16     ILLUSTRATIONS 


HERBERT  JENKINS  LIMITED 
ARUNDEL  PLACE  HAYMARKET 
LONDON    S.W.      eg      eg      MCMXVI 


EXBIELIOTHECA 

FR.^IIC.BABINGER 


THIRD  EDITION 


THE   ANCUOK  PRF.RS.  LTD.,  TIPTBEK,  ESSEX. 


rsl 


PREFACE 

IN  writing  my  reminiscences  of  Life  in  Constantinople 
I  have  been  under  the  disadvantage  of  depending 
almost  entirely  on  memory.  When  I  was  compelled 
to  leave  Turkey  in  the  middle  of  last  December  I  was  unable 
to  bring  away  memoranda  and  books  which  would  have 
enabled  me  to  fix  dates,  to  give  correct  spelling  of  names  of 
persons  and  places,  and  would  have  recalled  a  hundred  cir- 
cumstances, which  without  such  aids  I  am  unable  to  relate 
with  desirable  exactitude.  This  is  all  I  have  to  add  by  way 
of  excuse  for  any  inaccuracies  and  shortcomings  in  my  book. 

I  could  have  added  many  more  reminiscences  of  visitors 
who  have  given  me  the  pleasure  of  seeing  them,  some  of 
them  men  and  women  whom  all  England  delights  to  honour. 
Merely  to  mention  their  names  would  lay  one  open  to  a 
charge  of  sycophancy.  To  relate  conversation  with  them 
would  be  a  breach  of  confidence.  If,  for  example,  I  should 
tell  the  story  of  one  of  our  legislators  who  made  all  haste  to 
get  away  from  the  city  because  he  learned  that  Abdul- Hamid 
proposed  to  invite  him  to  dinner,  and  who  gave  as  his  reason 
for  getting  away  that  if  invited  he  could  hardly  refuse,  and 
that  if  he  accepted  he  would  lose  all  nonconformist  votes, 
I  should  have  to  miss  the  point  of  my  story  unless  I  men- 
tioned the  name,  which  I  should  not  be  justified  in  doing. 

Had  space  permitted,  I  should  have  liked  much  to  speak 
at  length  of  visits  :  of  that  of  Miss  Isabel  Fry,  who  spent 
time  and  money  for  the  benefit  of  Turkish  women  ;  of  the 
Members  of  the  Balkan  Committee,  notably  Mr.  Noel  E. 
Buxton  and  his  brother  ;  Lady  Boyle  and  Sir  Edward  ; 
Sir  Arthur  Evans,  and  others  whose  labours  for  the  benefit  of 
all  sections  of  the  community  won  them  the  gratitude  of 

1847S82 


vi  PREFACE 

Moslems  and  Christians  alike ;  of  the  veteran  Frederic 
Harrison,  who  was  especially  honoured  by  the  best  men  of 
the  Young  Turkey  Party  ;  of  Mr.  H.  W.  Massingham,  who 
shewed  himself  greatly  interested  in  Turkish  institutions. 
These  visits  were  of  great  value  to  leading  Turks  and  other 
members  of  the  community  as  setting  before  them  ideals  of 
conduct  and  self-sacrifice. 

Turkey  has  long  attracted  some  of  our  best  men  and 
women.  The  singular  devotion  of  Miss  Edith  Durham  has 
won  general  respect  in  all  the  Western  Balkan  States.  The 
massacres  at  Adana  drew  Lady  Rosalind  Northcote  and 
several  others  to  the  aid  of  the  victims.  Susan,  Lady 
Malmesbury,  took  great  interest  in  the  schools  and  colleges 
of  the  capital.  Mr.  Edward  Clodd  wanted  to  learn  every- 
thing regarding  Moslem  and  Christian  education.  The  late 
Mr.  John  Westlake,  a  friend  whom  I  had  known  from  my 
Social  Science  days,  always  took  great  interest  in  the 
developments  of  Turkey.  Another  old  and  dear  friend  from 
the  same  period  was  Rev.  Brooke  Lambert,  who  stayed  with 
me  on  three  occasions,  on  one  of  which  during  our  summer 
residence  he  conducted  divine  service  in  our  sala  at  Prinkipo. 
Canon  Malcolm  McCall  paid  us  two  visits,  and  from  the  time 
of  the  Moslem  atrocities  in  Bulgaria  was  always  keenly  aUve 
to  the  religious  and  political  questions  of  the  Near  East, 

I  have  to  express  my  very  sincere  thanks  to  Hariot,  Lady 
Dufferin,  for  the  excellent  photographs  of  her  husband  and 
herself.  I  possess  one  signed  by  Lord  Dufferin,  but,  like 
another  of  General  Skobeleff  and  others  which  it  was  my 
intention  to  use,  I  have  not  seen  my  way  to  obtain  them 
from  Constantinople.  My  thanks  are  also  due  to  Lady 
O'Conor  for  offering  to  place  at  my  disposal  a  series  of 
photographs  of  her  husband ;  to  Lord  Goschen  for  a  photo 
which  carries  my  memory  back  to  the  time  when  it  was  taken 
and  the  men  with  whom  he  had  to  act ;  and  to  Beatrice, 
Lady  Ellenborough,  for  permission  to  reproduce  from  her 
photograph  the  portrait  of  Jane  Digby,  Lady  Ellenborough. 

EDWIN   PEARS. 

London,  S.W.,  Sep.  20,  1915. 


CONTENTS 


FAQB 

PREFACE  -  .  -  -  -  V 

CHAPTER   I 

I  GO  TO  CONSTANTINOPLE 

A  Chance  Remark  and  the  Consequences — The  Social  Science  Associa- 
tion— Pleasant  Relations — I  Start  for  Turkey — First  Impres- 
sions— Bakshish — The  Turks'  Incurable  Malady — The  Comedy 
of  the  Buoys — The  Tragedy  of  the  Bridge — An  Ideal  Coal  for 
the  Navy         -  -  -  -  -  -.        I 


CHAPTER   II 

THE  MOSLEM  ATROCITIES  IN  BULGARIA 

'  Our  Own  Correspondent  " — Robert  College — Dr.  Washburn  and 
Dr.  Long — ^The  Bulgarian  Students — Ugly  Rumours — "Allah's 
Business" — My  First  Letter — Disraeli's  Doubts — I  Send  Addi- 
tional Proof — Incomprehensible  Scepticism — Macgahan  Sent 
to  Investigate — Horrible  Discoveries — Mr.  Walter  Baring  Ap- 
pointed Commissioner — His  Report — Disraeli's  Strange  Conduct 
— Death  of  Macgahan — Conference  of  Powers,  Dec-Jan.,  1877 — 
Its  Failure — Salisbury  Unpopular  in  Constantinople — "  Bravo, 
Sir  Elliot  " — Declaration  of  War  by  Russia,  April  24,  1877        -       12 


CHAPTER  III 

THE  RUSSO-TURKISH  WAR 

The  Russo-Turkish  War  Begins — Battle  of  Shenova — British  Fleet 
in  Besika  Bay — British  Colony  Still  Hostile — British  Fleet  at 
Prinkipo — Leaves  Turkey — Did  Arrival  of  British  Fleet  Prevent 
Russian   Occupation  ? — Baker   Pasha  and  Suliman — SkobeleflE 
and  the  Taking  of  Constantinople — My  Visit  to  Him  in  Camp — 
Remarkable  Unanswered  Telegram  to  Czar — Personal  Remin- 
iscences— Fellow   Correspondents,    Galenga,    George   Augustus 
Sala — A  Correspondent  Impostor — Remarkable  Solution  of  a 
Prize  Case     -  -  -  -  -  -      25 

|vii 


viii  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER   IV 
EAST  AND  WEST 

PAOB 

The  Anti- Russian  British  Colony — An  Address  to  Sir  Henry  Elliot — 
I  Protest — Journalism  Extraordinary — Mr.  Layard  Becomes 
Ambassador — The  Marquess  of  Bath — "A  Year  Behind  the 
Fair  " — Mr.  W.  E.  Forster — A  Grand  Vizier's  Rudeness — Mr. 
Hughes's  Revenge — "  The  Only  Gentleman  in  Europe  " — British 
Tommies  and  a  Turkish  Toll  Collector — Gallantry  and  Death — 
A  Strange  Court  Scene — The  Scots  at  Hasskewi — How  a  Lawyer 
Cannot  be  a  Jackass      -  -  -  -  "43 

CHAPTER     V 

THE  REVOLUTION  OF  1876 

Turkey's  Finances — Heavy  Losses — The  Moral  Effect — Outcry 
Against  the  Sultan's  Extravagance — His  Passion  for  Building — 
Abdul  Aziz  a  Prisoner — His  Suicide — A  Committee  of  Examina- 
tion— The  Trial  of  Ministers — The  Tradition  of  the  Turkish 
Palace — Murad  Ascends  the  Throne — He  is  Deposed  and  Suc- 
ceeded by  Abdul  Hamid — The  Question  of  a  Constitution — A 
Revelation  of  Abuses — The  New  Form  of  Government — A 
Blunt  Speaker — The  Traditional  Method — A  Question  of  Right 
or  Wrong        -  -  -  -  -  -      52 

CHAPTER    VI 

ARCH.<EOLOGICAL  INTERESTS  AND  LADY  ELLENBOROUGH 

Dr,  Paspates  and  Dr.  Schliemann — My  First  Visit  to  the  Patriarchal 
Church — An  Impressive  Ceremony — The  Greek  Tradition — The 
Site  of  Troy — Interesting  Discoveries — Visits  to  Nicaea — A  Visit 
to  Damascus — I  Meet  the  Sheik's  Wife — A  Remarkable  Woman 
— A  Queen  of  the  Desert — Life  in  the  Harem — An  Arab  Invasion 
— The  Bedouins'  Devotion  -  -  -  ^  -      62 

CHAPTER     VII 

THE  EGYPTIAN  QUESTION 

The  Arrival  of  Sir  Henry  Layard — Russophobia — Ideals  About  the 
Turk — A  Scheme  of  Reform — Sir  Henry  Disillusioned — Glad- 
stone's Greek  Letter — A  Scandal — The  Khedive's  Extravagance 
— Egypt's  Finances — Dual  Control — The  Succession  Changed — 
The  Khedive  Deposed — Turkish  Alarm — Saving  the  Sultan's 
Face — Mr.  Goschen  Succeeds  Sir  Henry  Layard — Bismarck's 
Rudeness — The  Sultan  Obdurate — Mr.  Goschen 's  Victory — The 
Murder  of  Colonel  CumaroflE  -  -  -  -      75 

CHAPTER    VIII 

EGYPT 

Lord  Dufferin  Appointed  Ambassador — The  Revolt  of  Arabi  Pasha 
— Turkish  Pin-pricks — The  Bombardment  of  Alexandria — Tel- 
el-Kebir— The  British  Left  to   Restore  Order— Turkey's  Help 


CONTENTS  ix 

PAGE 

Solicited — The  Sultan's  Refusal — Baker  Pasha's  Anxiety — Mr. 
Gladstone  Determined — British  Troops  Land — Lord  and  Lady 
DufEerin's  Services  to  the  European  Colony — The  Girls'  High 
School — Lady  DufEerin's  Popularity — A  Courteous  but  Strong 
Ambassador — A  Broad-minded  Man  -  -  -      87 

CHAPTER     IX 

ABDUL  HAMID 

The  Sultan's  Superstition — Abdul  Hamid's  Hostility  to  Armenians — 
The  Turkish  Law  of  Succession — Its  Disadvantages — Abdul 
Hamid's  Upbringing — A  Narrow  Environment — The  Fleet 
Neglected  —  Abdul  Hamid's  Sensitiveness  to  Criticism  —  An 
Unofficial  Censorship — A  Continuous  Foreign  Policy — An 
Avengement  for  the  Evacuation  of  Egjrpt — The  Sultan  Refuses 
His  Consent — Lord  Salisbury's  Rejoinder — A  Prosperous  Egypt 
— Izzet  Pasha — The  Two  Secretaries — Belief  in  Astrologers — 
The  Tabah  Affair — The  Sultan's  "Diplomatic  Victory" —  A 
Suspicious  Monarch — An  Elaborate  Spying  System — Blackmail 
— The  Censors  Regard  Me  as  Incorrigible — I  am  Threatened 
with  Expulsion — Turkish  "Decorations" — A  Clever  Fraud       -     102 

CHAPTER     X 

ARMINIUS  VAMBERY  AND  ABDUL  HAMID 

Pfere  Hyacinthe — Women  without  Souls — The  Khedive's  Dictum — 
"  Free  Speech  "  in  Turkey — The  Sultan's  Interference — Sir 
Henry  Bulwer  and  Plataea — His  Dummy  Library — Arminius 
Vambery — A  Chance  Encounter — A  Polyglot  Gentleman — 
Vambery's  Advice  to  Abdul  Hamid — The  Sultan's  Anger — A 
Suppressed  Book — The  White  Slave  Traffic — A  Courageous 
EngUshwoman — An  American's  Mistake — A  Splendid  Work      -     121 

CHAPTER     XI 

THE   SULTAN'S   SUMMONS 

Sir  Edward  Thornton — Mr.  Sunset  Cox — A  Brilliant  Speaker — Sir 
William  White — His  Friendship  with  Dr.  Washburn — The 
Sultan  Sends  for  Me — The  Ideal  Dragoman — I  Refuse  a  Decora- 
tion— Haji  Ali's  Astonishment — The  Sultan  Persists — The  Secre- 
tary's Ignorance — A  Visit  from  a  Spy — The  Decoration  Again 
Offered — A  Significant  Hint — The  Value  of  a  Turkish  Decora- 
tion— The  Order  of  the  Mejidieh  Conferred  on  a  Fighting  Cock     134 

CHAPTER   XII 

THE  ARMENIAN  MASSACRES 

Popularity  of  "  The  Bosporus  Bull  " — The  Sacredness  of  the  Sultan's 
Tougra — Baron  Calice's  Subtlety — Sir  Philip  Currie — Turkish 
Tobacco — The  Armenians  and  Their  Culture — Lord  Byron  and 
Their  Tongue — The  Desire  for  Education — Palmerston's  Epigram 
— The  "  Yes  Sirs  " — Abdul  Hamid  and  the  Murdered  Turk — An 


X  CONTENTS 

PA,OB 

Armenian  Tragedy — The  Sultan's  Resolve — Organised  Massacre 
— A  Terrible  List  of  Victims — Death  or  Conversion — An  Ar- 
menian's Report — A  Great  Outcry — Mr.  Gordon  Bennett  in  Con- 
stantinople— The  New  York  Herald's  Investigations — Abdul 
Hamid's  Mistake — Mr.  Hepworth's  and  Mr.  Fitzmaurice's  Re- 
ports —  "  Voluntary  "  Conversions  —  The  Mzissacre  in  Urfa 
Cathedral       .-..-.    1^4 

CHAPTER     XIII 

THE   TURKISH   METHOD 

Turkish  Fleet  Neglected,  but  Added  to  Under  Strange  Circum- 
stances— Kutchuk  Said  Takes  Refuge  at  British  Embassy — Is 
Protected  by  Sir  Philip  Currie — Girding  on  the  Sword  of  Osman 
— Hamdi  Bey — Allaverdi — Bishop  Wordsworth's  Visit — Lady 
Currie's  Popularity — A  Cultured  Woman — The  Spy's  Invita- 
tion— The  Young  Turks'  Indiscretion — The  Secretary's  Dilemma 
— A  Counter  Offensive — An  Uncompromising  Retort — Espion- 
age— The  Englishmen  and  the  Female  Spy — The  Armenian 
Ritriarch — An  Impressive  Ceremony — The  Patriarch's  Cordiality     1 70 

CHAPTER  XIV 

SIR  NICHOLAS  O'CONOR 

Sir  Nicholas  O 'Conor  at  Constantinople — Our  Meeting  at  Sofia — 
Stambuloff  Sends  for  Me — My  Lost  Luggage — I  Enter  the  Palace 
Looking  Like  a  Brigand — Stambuloff  Comes  to  See  me  Off — 
The  State  of  Macedonia — Robber  Chiefs  as  Protectors — Exodus 
of  the  Inhabitants — Hilmi  Pasha's  Reforms  Shelved — The  Rival 
Churches — An  Appeal  to  Rome — The  Eternal  Question  of  Reform 
— Formation  of  a  Revolutionary  Party — Dr.  Nazim's  Adventures     189 

CHAPTER   XV 

BARON  MARSCHALL  VON  BIEBERSTEIN 

The  Baron's  Greeting — The  Fire-eaters  at  Home — Fehim  Effendi's 
Escapades — Abdul  Hamid's  Protection — The  German  Ambassa- 
dor's Ultimatum — Fehim's  Banishment  and  Death — Sir  Nicholas 
O'Conor's  Thoroughness — Our  Sunday  Excursions — A  Turkish 
Superstition — Hannibal's  Tomb — Egyptian  Affairs — Death  of 
Sir  Nicholas  O'Conor — The  Kaiser's  Protest — Baron  Marschall's 
Methods — ^A  "  Thorough  "  Man    -  -  -  -    205 

CHAPTER  XVI 

THE  REVOLUTION  OF  1908 

Secret  Committees — Sir  Philip  Currie's  Anger — Turkish  Procrastina- 
tion— The  Sick  Man  of  Europe — Abdul  Hamid  a  Bar  to  Telephones 
— Condition  of  Army  and  Navy — Ignorant  Ofl&cers — Disaffection 
General — The  Salonica  Committee — Methods  of  Secrecy — The 
Third  Army  Corps — Enver   and  Niazi  in    Revolt — The  End 


CONTENTS  xi 

FAQB 

Approaching — Corruption  and  Tyranny — Espionage  Everywhere 
— Turkish  Women  Involved — The  First  Shot — The  Decision  of 
the  Fetva  Emine — The  Troops  Refuse  to  Fight — Wholesale 
Promotions — Afraid  to  Tell  Abdul — The  Court  Astrologer 
Requisitioned — The  Sultan  Bows  to  the  Storm — A  Wave  of 
Popularity — Spies  Abolished  and  Liberty  Proclaimed — General 
Rejoicing        _---.-     218 


CHAPTER  XVII 

THE  YOUNG  TURKS  IN  POWER 

Popularity  of  Great  Britain — ^The  Waring  Guard — Great  Britain's 
Disinterestedness — Abdul  Hamid's  Oath — Prisoners  Released — 
A  Grave  Mistake — Ugly  Rumours — A  New  Ministry  Under 
Kiamil — Abdul  Hamid  and  the  Kaiser's  Letter — Success  of  the 
Revolution — The  Palace  Staff — Abdul  Hamid's  Orders — ^Von 
der  Goltz  suspected — Turks'  Vagueness  as  to  the  Constitution — 
I  visit  the  Sheik-ul-Islam — A  Remarkable  Man — The  Secret 
Methods  of  the  C.U.P. — A  People  Transformed — An  American 
Lady's  Adventure — "  Yasak  " — A  Precipitated  Revolution — 
The  Austrians  and  the  Albanians — A  Diificult  Situation — ^The 
Sultan's  Favourites       ...  -  -    239 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

THE  COUNTER  REVOLUTION  OF  APRIL  13,  1909 

The  Unemployed — ^Turkish  Anti-Semitism — Javad  Bey  Appointed 
Minister  of  Finance — The  Reactionaries — A  Military  Revolt — 
Disturbing  Reports — The  Sacred  Law — Mahmud  Mukhtar's 
Loyalty — His  Flight — My  Son's  Prompt  Action — Surrounded — 
The  Dragomans  and  the  Sultan — An  Interrupted  Turkish  Bath — 
A  Matter  of  Life  or  Death — Mukhtar's  Escape — A  Hail  of 
Bullets — The  Meaning  of  the  Movement — A  Surprise  to  the , 
Cabinet — Nazim  Pasha's  Escape — Dissatisfaction  with  the 
C.U.P. — The  Comedy  of  the  Steamers — Absurd  Anomalies — 
Turkification  and  Tyranny — The  Nationalists — Ofl&cial  Murders 
— ^What  Occurred  at  Salonica — The  Army  of  Deliverance — A 
Systematic  Counter-stroke — The  Tables  Turned — The  Exodus 
from  the  Palace  .....    257 

CHAPTER  XIX 

ABDUL  HAMID  DEPOSED 

Enver's  Significant  Words — A  New  Era — A  Precipitated  Coup — 
The  Sultan's  Attitude — The  National  Assembly  Decide  Upon 
Deposition — Abdul  Hamid  Informed — He  Pleads  for  His  Life — 
His  Cowardice — Mahomet  V. — Abdul  Hamid  is  Packed  Off — 
Refreshing  the  Harem — The  New  Sultan  Proclaimed — A  Kindly 
Man — Defying  Abdul  Hamid — Turkish  Misrule — Fostering 
Religious  Hatred — The  Caliphate — The  Jehad — Bribes  for 
Reactionaries  -  -  -  -  -    282 


xii  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  XX 
STRUGGLES  OF  THE  COMMITTEE  OF  UNION  AND  PROGRESS 

PAQB 

A  Question  of  Responsibility — ^The  Adana  Massacre — A  Commission 
of  Enquiry — Examining  Yildiz  Kiosk — Embarrassing  Discoveries 
— Hanging  Reactionaries — The  C.U.P.  Visits  France  and  England 
— Javad  Bey's  Mission  a  Failure — ^The  C.U.P.'s  Blunders — Turki- 
fjang  Everything — A  Foolish  Boycott — A  Secret  Struggle — A 
Jehad  that  Failed — The  Sultan's  Progress — A  Severe  Criticism — 
Hakki  Pasha's  Comment — A  Struggle  for  Life — Damat  Ferid 
Pasha — The  Dogs  of  Constantinople — Their  Unwritten  Laws — A 
Terrible  Fate — Great  Fires  in  Stambul — Young  Turks'  Vigorous 
Action — An  Insanitary  Hospital — Fire  Insurance  Claims — The 
Turks  and  Life  Insurance — A  New  Law — Absurd  Clauses — My 
Drastic  Excisions — Decentralisation — A  Cumbrous  System — 
The  Gendarmerie — ^The  Modem  Woman  Phase — Miss  Isabel 
Fry's  Work    ------    297 

CHAPTER   XXI 

ANNEXATION  OF  BOSNIA  AND  HERZEGOVINA 

Prince  Ferdinand  declares  himself  King — Reorganisation  of  the 
Turkish  Navy — Difficulties  with  Albania — The  Balkan  League 
— Its  Successes — Dissensions — Mediation  of  the  Powers — Ortho- 
dox and  Bulgarian  Churches  Agree  for  Common  Action — My 
Last  Interview  with  Marschall  von  Bieberstein — Coup  d'etat — 
Assassination  of  Nazim  Pasha — Forced  Resignation  of  Kiamil — 
Arrival  of  Sir  Louis  Mallet — Quarrel  between  Bulgaria  and 
Serbia — Assassination  of  Shevket  Pasha — British  Relief  Com- 
mittees in  Constantinople  .  _  .  -     322 

CHAPTER   XXII 

AUGUST-OCTOBER,  1914 

Imll  Before  the  Storm — Turkish  Ministers  Favourable  to  England, 
Excepting  Enver  Pasha — Arrival  of  Goeben  and  Breslau — 
Constant  Declarations  of  Neutrality  by  Turks — British  Ships  not 
Permitted  to  Pass  Into  the  Aegean — Disadvantages  of  British 
Ambassador — Hard  and  Fast  Rule  Between  Diplomatic  and 
Consular  Service — Irritation  of  Turks  at  Pre-emption  of  Ships 
Built  in  England — Constant  Series  of  Attacks  Against  England 
in  Constantinople — Finding  Turks  Would  not  Declare  War 
Germans  in  Command  of  Turkish  Fleet  Bombard  Odessa  -     339 

CHAPTER   XXIII 

THE  AMERICAN  AMBASSADOR  AT  CONSTANTINOPLE 

I  Wish  to  Remain  in  Constantinople  After  Declaration  of  War — I  am 
Arrested — Imprisoned — Released  by  Intervention  of  the 
American  Ambassador — I  Leave  Constantinople — Journey  to 
D6d6agatch — Thence  to  Piraeus,  Malta,  Marseilles,  and  England 
— Incidents  of  the  Voyage — Noble  Conduct  of  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Morgenthau  Towards  French  and  British  Refugees — The 
Y.M.C.A.  in  Constantinople  -  .  -  .     35^ 


CONTENTS  xiii 

CHAPTER   XXIV 

PAGE 

SHORT  AND  PERSONAL        -       -       -       -  3^6 

CHAPTER  XXV 
THE  PAST  AND  THE  FUTURE 

Among  the  Archaeologists — Rev.  John  Peters — Professor  Hilprecht 
— George  Smith — Hittite  Investigators — Mr.  Hogarth,  Mr. 
Garstang,  and  Professor  Sayce — Distinguished  Explorers  for  the 
Palestine  Exploration  Fund — My  Archaeological  Work  in  Con- 
stantinople— Rev.  Dr.  van  Millingen — Bishops  of  Salisbury, 
Peterborough,  and  Gibraltar — Dr.  Spooner,  Canon  Shoobridge, 
and  Other  Clergymen — Visit  of  Mr.  Choate,  Ambassador,  to  St. 
James's — Visits  to  Renowned  Historical  Sites,  Ephesus  Es- 
pecially— British  Colony  in  Turkey — Thoughts  on  the  Future 
of  Turkey  and  Notably  of  Constantinople    -  -  -     368 

INDEX  -  -  -  -  -  -     381 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

TO  FACe  PAOB 

The  Author  in  19 15  Frontispiece 

Constantinople  from  the  Bosporus  6 

Sir  Henry  Elliot  16 

Jane  Digby,  Lady  Ellenborough  72 

Sir  Henry  Austin  Layard  80 

Group  of  Ambassadors  at  Constantinople  84 

The  Marquess  of  Dufferin  and  Ava  88 

The  Marchioness  of  Dufferin  and  Ava  98 

Sir  Nicholas  R.  O'Conor  igo 

KiAMiL  Pasha  244 

Abdul  Hamid  246 

Mahmud  Mukhtar  Pasha  260 

Nazim  Pasha  268 

Mahmud  Shevket  Pasha  282 

Hakki  Pasha  308 

Talaat  Bey  3^8 


FORTY  YEARS  IN 
CONSTANTINOPLE 


CHAPTER  I 

I  GO  TO   CONSTANTINOPLE 

A  Chance  Remark  and  the  Consequences — The  Social 
Science  Association  —  Pleasant  Relations  —  I  Start 
for  Turkey  —  First  Impressions  —  Bakshish  —  The 
Turks'  Incurable  Malady — The  Comedy  of  the  Buoys — 
The  Tragedy  of  the  Bridge — An  Ideal  Coal  for  the  Navy. 

DURING  the  year  1872  I  had  worked  hard.  I  was 
General  Secretary  of  the  Social  Science  Asso- 
ciation, and  in  that  capacity  had  edited  its 
Transactions  and  its  Sessional  Proceedings,  in  addition  to 
being  occupied  with  its  affairs  nearly  every  day  and  on  one 
day  a  week  usually  until  near  midnight.  I  had  also  become 
Secretary  of  a  very  important  International  Prison  Con- 
gress, at  which  every  nation  in  Europe  had  official  repre- 
sentatives, and  to  which  the  United  States  sent  no  less 
than  eighty.  When  the  Congress  was  over  I  was  un- 
animously requested  by  the  Council  to  edit  its  Transactions. 
The  volume  thus  produced,  called  Prisons  and  Reformatories 
at  Home  and  Abroad,  has  long  since  been  sold  out,  but 
remained  for  eleven  years,  until  a  further  International 
Prison  Congress  was  held  in  Europe,  a  standing  book  of 
reference.  During  the  same  year  I  was  editor  of  the  Law 
Magazine,  to  whose  pages  I  largely  contributed.  I  wrote 
various  articles  for  the  School  Board  Chronicle  and  for  other 
papers.  I  had  become  a  Member  of  the  North  Eastern 
Circuit,  and  was  beginning  to  acquire  practice  in  England. 


2  FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

I  was  working  too  hard  and  felt  that  my  health  was  giving 
way. 

In  January,  1873, 1  was  at  dinner  at  Hampstead  with  the 
late  Frederic  Hill,  a  man  who,  like  his  brothers.  Sir  Rowland 
and  Mr.  Matthew  Davenport  Hill,  was  always  keenly 
interested  in  certain  branches  of  Social  Science.  Taking  in 
Mr.  Hill's  daughter  to  dinner,  who  was  then  Mrs.  (now  Lady) 
Scott,  I  enquired  after  the  absence  of  her  husband.  She 
informed  me  he  was  remaining  at  home  in  order  to  examine 
two  sets  of  papers,  one  regarding  an  opening  at  the  Bar  in 
Constantinople,  and  the  other  regarding  another  opening  in 
Alexandria.  I  said,  half  in  jest,  half  seriously,  "  Ask  him  to 
let  me  see  the  set  which  he  rejects."  Next  day  I  received 
a  letter  from  him,  sending  me  a  batch  of  papers  and  inform- 
ing me  that  he  had  decided  to  go  to  Alexandria,  because 
doctors  had  informed  him  that  it  would  be  better  for  his 
health  than  Constantinople. 

I  looked  through  the  papers  sent  me,  and  found  that  an 
English  solicitor  who  had  taken  over  the  professional  work 
of  Mr.  (afterwards  Sir  Charles  P.)  Butt,  who  subsequently 
became  Judge  of  the  Admiralty  and  Divorce  Court,  had 
recently  died  and  that  a  successor  was  desired.  I  had  never 
been  to  Constantinople,  but  the  prospect  of  a  change  of 
climate  and  scene  for  two  or  three  years  appealed  to  me 
and  to  my  wife.  I  felt  that  I  could  not  continue  to 
work  at  the  high  pressure  of  the  past  year,  and  thought 
that  by  my  work  in  editing,  writing,  and  revising,  I 
was  drifting  away  from  my  legal  professional  work  which 
I  liked.  I  called  upon  an  Irish  Member  of  Parliament 
who  had  been  established  at  the  Bar  in  Constantinople, 
who  kindly  gave  me  particulars  about  the  climate  and 
work.  I  next  visited  Mr.  Butt,  who  was  practising  at 
the  English  Bar,  but  who  had  been  in  busy  practice  in 
Constantinople  for  a  few  years.  He  gave  the  information 
I  wanted  and  then  told  me  the  story  of  his  having  been 
in  a  great  collision  case  in  Constantinople  and  of  his  being 
opposed  by  Mr.  Brett,  who  was  already  at  the  time  of  our 
conversation   Mr.    Justice   Brett.     This    gentleman    had 


I  GO  TO  CONSTANTINOPLE  3 

greatly  approved  of  Butt's  conduct  of  his  case,  and  advised 
him  to  come  to  England,  promising  that  he  would  do  his 
best  to  get  him  appointed  as  his  Junior.  This  had  given  Mr. 
Butt  his  opening.  After  a  long  interview,  in  which  the  already 
successful  barrister  treated  me  with  the  fraternal  kindness 
that  Members  of  the  Bar  usually  shew  each  other,  he  advised 
me  to  get  leave  of  absence  and  to  go  and  give  the  place  a 
three  months'  trial.     Upon  that  advice  I  acted. 

I  applied  to  the  Council  of  the  Association  for  three  months' 
leave  of  absence,  frankly  stating  that  I  was  going  to  look 
into  the  professional  business  which  had  been  established  by 
Mr.  Butt,  and  that  if  it  suited  me  I  should  not  return.  The 
Council  granted  my  request,  but  with  the  candid  expression 
of  a  hope  by  the  most  prominent  members  that  I  should  not 
hke  it  and  should  return. 

As  I  did  not  return,  I  may  be  allowed  to  say  that  my  four 
years'  work  at  the  Social  Science  Association  will  afford  me 
to  the  hour  of  my  death  pleasant  recollections  of  a  number 
of  devoted  men  and  women  who  were  the  salt  of  London  life. 

The  Association  had  done,  and  when  I  left  it  was  doing, 
useful  work.  It  had  amongst  its  contributors  not  merely 
statesmen  such  as  Lord  Brougham,  Mr.  Gladstone,  Lord 
Derby,  Sir  Stafford  Northcote,  Lord  Carnarvon,  and  others 
belonging  to  both  the  great  political  parties,  but  social 
reformers  like  Florence  Nightingale,  Miss  Mary  Carpenter, 
Sir  Walter  Crofton,  Frederic  Hill ;  political  economists,  of 
whom  the  greatest  was  probably  John  Stuart  Mill,  not  to 
speak  of  writers  like  Matthew  Arnold,  F.  D.  Maurice, 
Frederic  Harrison,  Charles  Kingsley,  and  a  host  of  others. 
My  four  years'  connection  with  it  had  brought  me  into 
communication  with  some  of  the  greatest  and  most  practical 
thinkers  in  the  country.  During  the  last  year  I  was  in 
England  I  was  also  Secretary  of  the  International  Prison 
Congress,  where  I  had  the  honour  of  being  presented  to  the 
Prince  of  Wales,  and  of  making  the  acquaintance  of  Man- 
ning, not  yet  Cardinal,  and  of  many  distinguished  foreigners, 
especially  Americans. 

When  I  decided  to  remain  in  Constantinople  the  Council 


4  FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

treated  me  with  the  same  kindness  that  they  had  always 
shewn.  In  the  Transactions  of  the  Congress  in  September, 
1873,  the  President  of  the  Council  commenced  his  address 
with  the  following  words : 

"  It  would  ill  become  me  if  I  did  not  preface  any  obser- 
vations of  mine  on  this  occasion  with  an  expression  of  sincere 
regret  for  the  loss  we  have  sustained  since  our  last  Congress 
in  the  resignation  of  Mr.  Pears.  He  filled  the  office  of 
Secretary  during  four  years  with  signal  ability  and  with  no 
stinted  zeal,  and  the  resolution  of  the  Council  passed 
unanimously  after  he  left  England,  and  which  I  subjoin,  did 
no  more  than  justice  to  the  service  he  rendered  to  the 
Association."  * 

The  subjoined  resolution  was  the  following  : 

"  That  this  Council  has  received  with  much  regret  the 
resignation  of  Edwin  Pears,  Esq.,  Barrister-at-law,  who  has 
for  more  than  four  years  filled  the  office  of  General  Secretary 
with  signal  ability  and  success  and  to  the  great  advantage 
of  the  Association,  and  hereby  expresses  its  sense  of  the 
services  of  Mr.  Pears  and  its  best  wishes  for  his  future  success 
in  life."  * 

I  arrived  in  Constantinople  in  the  month  of  March,  1873. 
The  beauty  of  Constantinople  from  the  sea  and  the  Bos- 
porus was  a  welcome  surprise.  I  have  never  grown  weary  of 
it.  The  city  and  its  surroundings,  the  Bosporus  and  the 
Princes  Islands,  have  many  changing  aspects,  but  they  are 
perennially  beautiful .  Add  the  charm  of  interesting  historical 
associations  and  then  I  know  of  no  place  whose  beauty  is 
more  fascinating.  It  is  true  that  after  I  had  landed  I  found 
the  slummy  and  narrow  streets  a  sad  contrast  to  what  I  had 
seen  before  landing.  The  street  dogs  were  everywhere. 
Street  carriages  had  only  just  been  introduced,  and  a  carriage 
road  opened  from  Galata,  the  commercial  portion,  to  the 
heights  of  Pera,  the  residential  portion  for  Europeans. 

*  Extracts  from  the  Transactions  of  the  National  Association 
for  the  Promotion  of  Social  Science.     1873. 


I  GO  TO  CONSTANTINOPLE  5 

When  I  arrived  in  Constantinople  there  was  a  lull  in 
diplomatic  strife.  The  Treaty  of  Paris  (1856),  whereby  it 
was  provided  that  neither  Turkey  nor  Russia  should 
build  or  maintain  warships  in  the  Black  Sea,  and  still 
more  the  Franco-German  war,  had  given  rise  to  the 
Czar's  circular  (1870)  declaring  that  he  could  no  longer 
consider  himself  bound  by  that  treaty  so  far  as  it  affected 
his  sovereign  rights  in  the  Black  Sea.  Public  opinion  had 
jBamed  up  and  war  had  been  freely  discussed.  However, 
things  resumed  their  normal  state  as  a  result  of  the  conference 
held  in  London,  where  it  was  agreed  that  the  clause  relating 
to  the  Black  Sea  should  be  cancelled  and  that  the  Sultan 
should  be  empowered  to  open  the  Dardanelles,  under  certain 
restrictions  as  to  guns  and  the  number  of  vessels,  to  armed 
ships  of  friendly  states  in  the  event  of  his  rights  under 
the  Treaty  of  Paris  being  threatened. 

During  the  first  eighteen  months  of  my  residence  I  began 
to  realise  what  was  the  political  condition  of  the  Turkish 
Government  and  the  attitude  of  the  European,  and  espec- 
ially of  the  British  colony,  towards  the  Government,  I 
found  myself  in  a  new  world  with  curiously  distorted  old- 
world  notions,  a  world  which  in  political  matters  did  not 
know  that  any  nation  or  even  individuals  had  ideals  or 
other  incentives  to  action  than  the  meanest  form  of  self- 
interest.  I  soon  discovered  that  the  Government  was 
honeycombed  with  corruption.  No  one  seemed  to  contem- 
plate that  any  business  could  be  done  with  it  except  by 
bribery,  and  the  open  manner  in  which  such  form  of  cor- 
ruption was  spoken  of  was  startling.  Every  official  was 
regarded  as  having  his  price.  In  every  contract  that  was 
made,  an  essential  consideration  was  what  amount  would 
have  to  be  paid  as  "  bakshish." 

I  found  in  answer  to  my  remonstrances  on  various 
occasions  with  reference  to  these  bribes,  that  natives  and 
foreigners  usually  drew  a  curious  distinction  between  a 
present  and  a  bribe.  A  man  would  point  out  that  he  was 
not  giving  a  sum  of  money,  be  it  five  or  five  hundred  pounds, 
to  an  official  as  a  bribe,  because  the  bargain  or  contract 


6  FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

that  he  was  making  was  perfectly  honest  and  the  present  was 
not  given  until  after  it  was  concluded.  To  my  question 
whether  it  was  expected  that  the  official  would  consent  on 
behalf  of  the  Government  to  sign  the  contract  if  no  present 
were  promised,  the  answer  always  indicated  the  negative. 
But  everybody  did  it  and  there  was  no  chance  of  getting 
any  Government  contract  unless  such  presents  were  pro- 
mised. I  soon  learnt  that  the  distinction  between  present 
and  bribe  was  without  a  difference. 

Even  where  Courts  of  Law  were  concerned  most  of  the 
judges  had  their  confidential  men,  and  if  one  of  these  went 
to  an  advocate  and  told  him  that  the  judge  considered 
that  justice  was  on  his  side,  but  that  his  opponent  was  offer- 
ing to  pay  a  certain  sum,  it  was  soon  recognised  that  the 
negotiation  meant  that  unless  the  advocate  would  pay  the 
same  sum  he  had  no  chance  of  obtaining  a  verdict.  On 
more  than  one  occasion  I  have  received  a  visit  from  a  judge 
who  informed  me  that  in  a  case  where  I  was  professionally 
interested  he  thought  that  the  arguments  on  my  side  were 
sound,  but  that  he  was  very  short  of  money,  and  he  would  be 
greatly  obliged  if  I  would  persuade  my  client  to  lend  him  a 
certain  sum.  I  can  say  with  a  clear  conscience  that  I  never 
acceded  to  such  a  demand,  though  I  am  aware  that  my 
cHents  have  done  so. 

Everyone  had  stories  to  tell  of  the  prevalence  of  bribery. 
Let  me  give  two,  because  I  know  them  to  be  true.  The  late 
Mr.  George  Crawshay  of  Newcastle-on-Tyne  was  a  great 
philo-Turk.  He  belonged  to  a  little  company  of  men  of 
whom  the  leader  was  Mr.  Urquhart,  an  Englishman  of 
eminence,  of  intelligence,  and  I  believe  of  high  character. 
His  followers  could  not  or  would  not  recognise  anything 
wrong  about  the  Turk.  He  was  the  one  gentleman  left  in 
Europe.  Amongst  those  whom  he  greatly  influenced,  Mr. 
(afterwards  Sir)  Henry  A.  Layard  was  possibly  the  best 
known.  The  Turkish  Government  had  decided  to  lay  down 
in  the  harbour  of  Constantinople  one  hundred  buoys,  in 
order  to  avoid  the  constant  collisions  which  were  taking 
place  owing  to  strong  and  varying  currents  in  and  near  the 


I  GO  TO  CONSTANTINOPLE  7 

harbour  of  Constantinople.  Tenders  were  issued  for  the 
supply  of  buoys  with  mushroom  anchors  and  cables  complete. 
Mr.  Crawshay,  who  was  an  iron  master,  informed  me  that  he 
intended  to  have  the  contract.  He  would  estimate  for 
them  at  a  price  which  should  barely  cover  their  cost  and 
which,  therefore,  no  man  who  hoped  to  make  a  business 
profit  could  compete  with.  He  did  so.  The  contract  was 
given  to  a  Belgian  or  German  firm  at  the  price  of  £150 
per  buoy  higher  than  that  at  which  he  had  tendered. 

But  that  is  not  the  worst  of  the  business,  because  when  the 
buoys  came  to  Constantinople  it  was  found  that  the  mush- 
room buoy  had  no  orifice  from  which  the  air  could  escape, 
and  I  remember  hearing  Admiral  Hobart  Pasha,  who  was 
charged  with  the  fixing  of  the  buoys  in  the  harbour,  using 
very  strong  nautical  language  as  to  their  construction. 
They  were  driven,  said  he,  all  about  the  harbour,  and  the 
anchors  would  not  hold  them  in  the  position  where  they 
were  laid.  Mr.  Crawshay  was  of  course  very  indignant, 
and  expressed  his  opinion  that  the  £150  per  buoy  did  not 
even  express  the  full  amount  of  bakshish  which  was  paid. 
He  fell  back  upon  the  usual  excuse  of  the  philo-Turks  of  the 
day,  that  the  matter  had  probably  been  arranged  by  some 
of  the  Christian  employes  of  the  Porte.  I  admit  that  it 
may  have  been  so,  but  the  practice  was  so  general  that  it  is 
incredible  that  Turks  did  not  share  in  the  plunder,  and  of 
course  a  Government  which  was  aware  that  Hs  subordinates, 
Christians  or  Moslems,  took  part  in  such  bargains,  must  bear 
its  share  in  the  responsibility. 

Another  incident  was  a  surprise  to  me  in  those  early  days. 
A  bridge  mostly  of  wood  had  been  built  within  sixty  miles 
of  Constantinople.  The  price  paid  was  £8,000,  which 
left  the  contractor  a  good  profit  and  allowed  him  to 
pay  a  good  sum  as  bakshish  to  the  local  Governor.  When 
the  amount  was  paid,  so  the  story  runs,  the  Governor 
expressed  his  satisfaction,  "  This  has  been  a  good  business. 
Can't  you  find  another  like  it  ?  "  The  contractor  replied 
in  the  negative,  but  he  is  supposed  to  have  added,  '*  If 
this  bridge  were  to  be  burnt  then  a  new  one  would  have 


8  FORTY  YEARS  IN   CONSTANTINOPLE 

to  be  constructed."     Within  a  fortnight  the  bridge  was 
burnt. 

I  have  spoken  of  Mr.  Crawshay  as  a  philo-Turk.  The 
truth  is  that  at  that  time  the  whole  British  community,  so 
far  as  I  could  learn,  was  philo-Turk.  The  glamour  of  the 
Crimean  war  was  still  upon  it.  The  stories  one  heard  of 
fortunes  made  and  lost,  of  the  reckless  way  in  which  money 
was  squandered  by  the  British  and  French  Governments, 
the  extravagant  habits  of  British  contractors  were  constant 
topics  of  conversation.  One  of  the  leading  merchants  said 
to  me  when  there  appeared  a  danger  of  the  outbreak  of  war 
between  England  and  Russia,  "  Of  course  in  such  a  case  you 
will  drop  your  legal  business  and  make  ten  times  the  amount 
in  commerce."  There  were  unpleasant  stories  of  fortunes 
which  were  lost  during  the  war,  and  especially  at  its  sudden 
termination.  When  the  latter  took  place  there  were  many 
merchants  who  had  cargoes  en  route  which  they  expected 
to  sell  at  a  great  profit,  and  which  they  had  to  dispose  of  at 
much  below  cost  price  in  order  to  pay  freight.  Under  the 
advice  of  the  late  Sir  Robert  Rawlinson,  whom  I  had  seen 
before  I  went  to  Constantinople,  draining  tiles  were  imported 
in  great  numbers.  He  had  described  very  vividly  the 
hideous  sanitation,  or  rather  absence  of  it,  in  which  he  had 
found  the  barracks,  notably  those  near  the  British  cemetery 
at  Constantinople,  called  the  Selimieh.  One  shipload  of 
draining  tiles  arrived  after  the  cessation  of  the  war.  It  was 
sold  for  a  mere  trifle  and  the  buyer  hired  land  on  which  to 
deposit  the  tiles,  paid  for  the  land  out  of  the  sale  of  a 
portion  of  the  cargo,  and  built  himself  a  house  and  pocketed 
a  good  sum  from  the  sale  of  the  remainder. 

One  other  Crimean  story  from  an  old  resident  is  worth 
telling.  He  was  supplying  the  British  Fleet  with  coal,  and 
I  have  no  doubt  did  it  honestly  and  well.  A  commissariat 
officer  on  one  occasion  went  to  him  to  say  that  a  man-of-war 
had  just  arrived  in  the  Bosporus  and  was  proceeding  to  the 
Crimea  with  distinguished  officers  on  board,  but  was  short  of 
coal.    The  resident  answered  he  had  a  small  sailing-vessel 


I  GO  TO  CONSTANTINOPLE  9 

which  had  just  arrived  with  a  cargo  of  coal,  and  it  was 
arranged  with  the  commissariat  officer  that  the  saiHng-vessel 
should  discharge  directly  on  board  the  man-of-war.  This 
was  done.  When  the  resident  saw  his  managing  man  he 
asked  what  had  been  done  with  about  ninety  kegs  of  gun- 
powder which  had  been  stowed  on  the  top  of  the  coal  in 
question.  The  manager  said,  "  Oh,  we  found  all  the  kegs 
empty.  There  was  no  powder  to  remove."  It  was  interest- 
ing to  hear  the  old  resident  tell  the  story  of  his  anxiety 
during  the  next  three  weeks.  He  feared  that  every  ship 
coming  from  the  Crimea  would  bring  news  of  an  explosion 
on  the  man-of-war,  and  of  an  order  for  his  arrest.  He 
became  ill  from  anxiety. 

One  day,  a  fortnight  later,  he  heard  with  fear  and  trembling 
from  his  inner  office  the  voice  of  the  commissariat  officer 
asking  to  see  the  merchant  who  had  supplied  the  ship  in 
question  with  coal.  He  put  a  bold  face  on  the  matter,  but 
with  fear  and  trembling.  To  his  surprise  the  commissariat 
ofiicer  in  a  loud  voice  said,  "  Yes,  you're  the  man.  You 
gave  us  300  tons  of  coal.  It's  the  best  we  have  ever  had. 
Instead  of  our  having  to  stop  the  ship  while  we  cleared  the 
funnels,  whenever  there  is  a  new  firing  up,  the  smoke  goes 
with  a  puff  and  clears  the  funnel  itself.  I  want  300  tons 
more,  but  mind,  it  must  be  of  the  same  quaUty." 

It  was  during  the  Crimean  war  that  an  incident  occurred 
shewing  that,  in  spite  of  the  Turk's  prejudice  against  the 
infidel,  he  knows  how  to  make  good  use  of  him  when  occasion 
requires.  It  also  throws  a  sidelight  on  some  of  the  diffi- 
culties that  Christian  missionaries  have  to  contend  with. 

Turkey  has  usually  found  a  difficulty  in  obtaining  trust- 
worthy interpreters  in  time  of  war,  and  there  are  many  tales 
in  regard  to  them,  some  of  which  are  amusing.  During  the 
Crimean  war  the  Turks  wanted  a  man  whom  they  could  trust 
to  proceed  to  Russian  Headquarters  and  deliver  an  important 
communication.  They  chose  an  agent  of  the  Bible  Society 
who  was  distinguished  from  other  men  of  the  same  name  as 
Bible  Barker.  In  order  that  he  might  pass  through  Turkish 
territory  with  the  dignity  becoming  a  special  messenger  of 


10        FORTY  YEARS   IN   CONSTANTINOPLE 

the  Sultan,  he  was  given  an  Imperial  firman  which  conveyed 
instructions  or  rather  commands  to  all  Governors  and  other 
Turkish  authorities  to  render  him  every  possible  facility. 
For  his  safety  and  honour  he  had  a  small  guard  of  soldiers. 

On  his  journey,  during  which,  as  being  in  Turkish  service, 
he  wore  a  fez,  he  was  formally  met  at  every  town  by  the  local 
authorities,  who  treated  him  with  the  utmost  respect.  He 
spoke  Turkish  extremely  well,  and  had  no  servant  or 
attendant  who  spoke  any  other  language.  When  he  arrived 
at  a  certain  large  village  he  saw  coming  on  the  road  towards 
him  two  men  who  were  evidently  EngUshmen  or  Americans, 
and  who  had  with  them  a  bullock-cart  heavily  laden  with 
personal  belongings.  He  rightly  judged  them  to  be  American 
missionaries.  They  were  then  nearly  half  a  mile  from  the 
village,  but  already  news  of  his  arrival  had  been  carried 
there,  and  the  Caimacan  and  other  local  authorities  came 
forward  to  pay  their  respects  to  the  envoy  of  the  Padishah. 

Bible  Barker's  arrival  coincided  almost  exactly  with  that 
of  the  missionaries.  Barker  addressed  the  latter  in 
Turkish,  asking  them  somewhat  roughly  who  they  were  and 
what  they  were  doing.  They  explained  in  the  same  lan- 
guage, beUeving  him  to  be  a  Turk,  that  they  had  been  in  the 
village  for  nearly  two  years,  but  that  they  were  persecuted 
because  they  were  giaours  by  the  young  men,  who  constantly 
broke  their  windows,  stole  the  produce  of  their  garden,  and 
would  not  allow  anyone  to  come  to  their  house.  As  they 
could  neither  teach  nor  preach  they  were  going  away. 
Barker  Pasha,  as  their  attendants  called  him,  had  halted 
under  the  spreading  plane-tree  which  is  so  common  a  feature 
in  Turkish  villages.  He  asked  for  the  names  of  the  young 
men  who  had  annoyed  the  missionaries.  Half  a  dozen 
names  were  given,  and  the  accused  were  ordered  to  stand 
forward.  By  this  time  nearly  the  whole  of  the  population 
had  assembled  and  the  culprits  were  produced.  All  around 
had  heard  the  conversation.  Then  the  Pasha  spoke  to  all 
present  in  terms  somewhat  hke  the  following  :  "  These 
giaours  have  come  into  the  country  from  one  which  is  the 
friend  of  the  Sultan  and  by  his  permission.     He  lets  them 


I  GO  TO  CONSTANTINOPLE  ii 

come  here  to  teach  you  because  you  are  ignorant  pigs  and 
know  nothing.  They  come  from  their  far  distant  country 
which  has  good  houses,  green  fields,  and  good  roads,  and 
where  everyone  can  read  and  write.  They  wanted  to  try  to 
civilise  you.  They  are  the  guests  of  the  Padishah,  and  you 
young  scalawags,  instead  of  receiving  them  with  honour,  have 
insulted  and  annoyed  them  and  made  it  impossible  for 
them  to  remain  here.  I  therefore  order  and  direct  that  all 
of  you  shall  be  sent  to  the  army  and  put  in  the  forefront 
of  the  first  battle  that  takes  place."  He  insisted  very 
strongly  that  this  order  was  to  be  strictly  obeyed. 

The  young  men,  with  their  mothers  and  relations,  cried 
out,  "  Aman,  Am^n  !  Mercy  !  Pardon  !  "  and  conster- 
nation fell  upon  the  crowd.  Thereupon  the  American 
missionaries  themselves  pleaded  for  mercy.  They  did 
not  wish  for  revenge  or  punishment  or  in  any  way  to  do 
injury  to  the  young  men.  They  were  even  willing  to  remain 
if  they  were  secured  against  persecution.  The  Pasha 
listened  to  their  prayers,  and  then  turned  to  the  crowd. 

"  You  see  what  sort  of  men  these  are.  You  might  have 
pleaded  all  day  long  and  I  wouldn't  have  modified  my 
sentence,  but  when  they  ask  it  I  am  ready  to  listen  to  their 
prayers.  Only  I  release  you  on  this  condition.  I  charge 
you,  the  Caimacan  and  the  MoUah,  to  watch  over  these 
American  giaours,  and  if  any  of  these  scalawags  or  anybody 
else  molests  them  in  their  work,  send  them  on  to  me  or  to 
the  Turkish  officer  in  charge  of  the  nearest  station  and  say 
that  you  do  it  by  my  orders." 

Thereupon  the  young  men  and  the  whole  crowd  thanked 
this  generous  Pasha,  who,  after  taking  some  food  to  shew 
that  he  bore  them  no  enmity,  proceeded  on  his  way,  request- 
ing, in  Turkish  always,  the  missionaries  to  go  a  little  way 
with  him.  When  only  they  remained,  he  went  ahead  of  his 
guard  so  that  he  could  converse  with  the  missionaries,  and  to 
their  astonishment  addressed  them  in  good  English  and 
disclosed  who  he  was.  The  story  adds  that  from  that  time 
they  got  on  well  with  the  people  of  the  neighbourhood 
and  became  general  favourites. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  MOSLEM  ATROCITIES  IN   BULGARIA 

"  Our  Own  Gjirespondent  " — Robert  College — Dr. 
Washburn  and  Dr.  Long — The  Bulgarian  Students — 
Ugly  Rumours — "  Allah's  Business  " — My  First  Letter 
— Disraeli's  Doubts — I  Send  Additional  Proof — Incom- 
prehensible Scepticism — Macgahan  Sent  to  Investigate 
— Horrible  Discoveries — Mr.  Walter  Baring  Appointed 
Commissioner — His  Report — Disraeli's  Strange  Conduct 
— Death  of  Macgahan — Conference  of  Powers,  Dec- 
Jan.,  1877 — Its  Failure — Salisbury  Unpopular  in  Con- 
stantinople— "  Bravo,  Sir  Elliot " — Declaration  of  War 
by  Russia,  April  24,  1877. 

ONCE  well  settled  in  Constantinople,  I  soon  felt  that 
I  must  have  my  say  in  England  on  Turkish  matters. 
I  had  met  Mr.  Frank  Hill,  the  then  editor  of 
the  Daily  News,  and  wrote  to  him  covering  a  letter  on  the 
political  situation  and  on  the  prevalence  of  corruption. 
In  my  letter  to  Mr.  Hill,  written,  I  believe,  in  October,  1875, 
I  stated  that  I  was  already  too  busy  a  man  to  undertake 
to  keep  the  paper  supplied  with  news,  but  that  if  he  chose 
to  accept  letters  from  me  I  should  be  glad  to  send  them  when 
I  thought  the  importance  of  events  justified  me  in  writing. 
The  enclosure  shewed  him  what  my  opinions  on  the  subject 
were.  To  that  letter  I  never  received  a  reply,  but  the 
enclosure  figured  in  the  Daily  News  as  from  "  Our  Own 
Correspondent."  From  that  time  until  the  advent  of  the 
New  Constitution  in  Turkey  in  1908,  my  letters  often 
appeared  in  the  Daily  News. 

Within  nine  months  of  the  publication  of  my  first  letter 
events  occurred  in  Turkey  which  made  my  name  familiar  in 
both  houses  of  Parliament,  and  before  the  year  was  over. 


THE  MOSLEM  ATROCITIES  IN  BULGARIA    13 

through  the  influence  of  Mr.  Gladstone,  in  all  parts  of  the 
Empire.  It  had  been  my  good  fortune,  within  a  few  months 
of  setthng  in  Constantinople,  to  make  the  aquaintance 
of  Dr.  George  Washburn  and  of  Dr.  Albert  Long.*  Both 
were  men  of  great  capacity,  sterling  honesty  and  broad- 
mindedness.  Washburn  was  President  of  the  American 
institution  on  the  Bosporus  known  as  Robert  College  ; 
Long  was  the  Vice-President.  I  have  described  elsewhere 
the  magnificent  work  which  Robert  College  did  for  the 
Christian  races  in  the  Ottoman  Empire,  and  is  now  doing, 
under  its  present  President  Dr.  Gates,  for  them  and  for 
Turkish  students  also. 

Dr.  Long,  who  was  my  next-door  neighbour  while  living 
near  Robert  College,  had  been  a  missionary  in  Bulgaria,  and 
it  was  from  him  and  from  his  writings,  published  in  an 
obscure  paper  in  America,  that  I  first  learned  of  the  existence 
of  the  Bulgarian  people.  He  was  a  man  who  exercised  a 
large  and  sympathetic  influence  over  others,  and  it  was  on 
his  recommendation  that  a  number  of  bright  young  Bul- 
garians were  sent  from  their  own  country  to  receive  in- 
struction at  Robert  College  during  the  early  days  of  Dr. 
Washburn,  who,  I  fancy,  also  gained  his  first  knowledge  of 
the  Bulgarians  from  Dr.  Long,  and  was  soon  impressed  with 
the  seriousness  of  the  Bulgarian  student.  Thirty  years  after 
the  time  of  which  I  am  speaking  he  told  me  that  they  had 
kept  a  record  of  the  progress  made  by  the  various  students 
at  Robert  College,  and  for  steady  work  and  plodding  industry 
the  Bulgarians  headed  the  Ust.  At  one  time  indeed,  cricket 
and  football  had  to  be  abandoned  because  the  Bulgarian 
students  took  them  so  seriously  as  to  interfere  with  the  work 
of  the  college. 

Probably  there  has  never  been  a  Ministry  in  Bulgaria  that 
has  not  contained  Robert  College  men.  Stoiloff,  the  best- 
known  Premier  of  the  country  after  Stambuloff,  was  one  of 
them,  whose  acquaintance  dated  back  as  far  as  1875.  Mr. 
Gueschoff,  the  Bulgarian  Premier  who  resigned  when  the 

♦  Dr.  Washburn  died  in  February,  1915,  Dr.  Long  in  1901. 


14         FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

negotiations  between  him  and  Mr.  Passitch,  the  Premier  of 
Serbia,  fell  through,  and  the  second  war  ensued,  was  also  a 
Robert  College  man,  and  the  two  that  I  have  mentioned, 
while  possessing  the  native  stubbornness  of  Bulgarian 
character,  were  distinguished  by  their  moderation  and  by  a 
spirit  of  sweet  reasonableness  that  specially  endeared  them  to 
English  people.  This  was  due  especially  to  the  influence  of 
Dr.  Washburn,  whom  I  have  on  previous  occasions  compared 
with  Arnold  of  Rugby,  as  one  whose  magnetism  seemed  to 
embue  those  educated  under  him  with  the  same  kind  of 
earnestness,  of  capacity  for  seeing  both  sides  of  a  question, 
of  taking  each  man's  censure,  but  of  reserving  their  judg- 
ment as  did  Arnold.  I  look  forward  to  the  time  when  we 
shall  again  see  Gueschoff  in  power  to  the  advantage  of  his 
country. 

It  was  during  the  summer  of  1875  that  the  Eastern  volcano 
began  to  show  signs  of  renewed  activity.  The  Turkish  pro- 
vinces of  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina  revolted  and  the  Powers 
began  to  bring  pressure  to  bear  upon  Turkey  to  establish 
liberty  of  religion  (January,  1876).  The  Porte's  reply  was 
to  defer  payment  of  the  dividend  upon  the  loan  for  the 
pubUc  debt  due  in  April.  Disraeli  stated  in  the  Commons 
that  nothing  in  the  Treaty  of  Paris  could  support  the  idea 
that  Turkey  was  to  be  upheld  in  her  misgovemment.  The 
Mediterranean  squadrons  of  France  and  Germany  entered 
Turkish  waters  as  a  result  of  the  murder  of  their  Consuls 
at  Salonica,  that  of  Germany  being  a  British  subject  well 
known  to  me,  whilst  the  British  Fleet  dropped  anchor  in 
Besika  Bay. 

Student  riots  broke  out  in  Constantinople,  and  Midhat 
Pasha  at  the  head  of  the  "  reformers  "  seized  the  reins  of 
government,  with  the  result  that  Abdul  Aziz  was  deposed  in 
May  and  was  succeeded  by  his  nephew  Murad.* 

In  the  spring  of  1876  rumours  began  to  come  into  Con- 
stantinople of  a  dark  and  ugly  business  in  Bulgaria.  The 
misgovemment  of  the  country  by  the  Turks  was  terrible, 
and  even  for  Turkey  unusual.  The  Bulgarians  greatly 
*  With  this  Revolution  I  deal  fully  in  Chapter  V. 


THE  MOSLEM  ATROCITIES  IN  BULGARIA     15 

desired  an  education  for  their  sons ;  and  those  who  had 
settled  in  Odessa  and  in  Rumania,  many  of  them  exiles  who 
had  had  to  fly  the  country  because  they  were  teaching  and 
were  suspected  of  entertaining  hostile  sentiments  towards 
the  Government,  wrote  and  spoke  in  favour  of  the  education 
of  their  people.  A  veritable  passion  for  education  possessed 
the  people.  Finally  the  exiles  in  Russia  and  Rumania 
formed  committees  for  political  agitation,  and  some  of 
them  entertained  hopes  that  the  country  would  acquire 
autonomy. 

The  Turkish  Government  has  never  known  how  to  treat 
its  discontented  subjects  in  any  other  way  than  by  means 
of  massacre.  Persons  coming  to  Constantinople  brought 
stories  of  the  murder  or  torture  of  school-teachers  and  of 
other  prominent  persons  in  Bulgaria  who  were  supposed  to 
be  discontented,  or  who  were  found  to  be  in  communication 
with  the  committees  formed  at  Bucharest  and  Odessa. 
Two  of  the  editors  of  local  newspapers  in  the  capital  spoke 
to  me  of  letters  which  they  had  received  which  they  dared 
not  publish  for  fear  that  their  papers  would  be  suppressed. 
As  the  spring  advanced.  Dr.  Long  especially  received  a 
number  of  letters  in  Bulgarian,  in  which  language  he  was 
recognised  as  an  authority.  These  told  a  dreadful  story. 
Orders  had  gone  out  from  the  Turkish  authorities  to  the 
Moslem  villagers  to  kill  their  Christian  neighbours. 

Let  me  tell  of  one  atrocity  which  I  do  not  remember 
to  have  published.  A  Bulgarian  family  of  Moslems,  living 
at  Bebek  on  the  Bosporus,  was  visited  by  a  friend  of  mine 
who  was  a  doctor,  or  hakim.  The  head  of  the  household 
was  lying  ill,  stricken  with  fever.  My  friend  was  received 
by  the  poor  distracted  wife,  who  had  already  lost  two  of  her 
children.  She  thanked  the  doctor,  but  spoke  to  him  in  the 
following  terms  :  "  You  can  do  no  good  here.  Hakim, 
because  this  is  Allah's  business.  I  will  tell  you  how  I  know. 
We  were  living  in  a  Bulgarian  village  and  our  next-door 
neighbours  were  Christians.  The  children  of  the  two  houses 
played  together,  and  when  I  wanted  a  lettuce  or  the  loan  of 
a  pan  they  were  always  ready  to  oblige  me.     One  day  my 


i6        FORTY   YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

husband  came  to  me  and  said,  '  Orders  have  come  for  us  to 
kill  the  Christians,  and  I  have  to  kill  our  neighbours.'  " 
The  woman's  instinct  revolted.  She  declared  that  they  had 
always  been  kind  and  had  done  them  no  hann,  and  she  did 
not  care  who  had  given  the  orders,  they  ought  not  to  be 
obeyed.  Her  husband  repUed  that  he  must  carry  out  the 
Paishah's  command.  "  Then,"  said  she,  "  if  you  do,  Allah 
will  punish  you.  .  .  .  He  killed  them  all.  Hakim,  and  I  saw 
the  dead  bodies  of  our  own  children's  playmates  lying  out  in 
the  field.  Yes,  this  is  Allah's  business.  He  has  taken  away 
my  two  children,  and  he'll  take  my  husband  away.  He 
won't  kill  me.  You  can  do  nothing  to  save  him."  Nor 
could  he. 

I  collected  a  number  of  rumours  and  made  much  use  of 
the  information  with  which  Dr.  Long  furnished  me.  At  the 
same  time,  he  and  Dr.  Washburn  drew  up  a  long  statement, 
practically  covering  the  same  ground,  which  they  put  into 
the  hands  of  the  British  Ambassador,  Sir  Henry  Elliot,  and 
of  which  they  gave  copies  to  Mr.  Galenga,  the  Special 
Correspondent  of  the  Times,  and  to  me.  That  gentleman  and 
I  posted  our  accounts  of  Moslem  atrocities  in  Bulgaria  on  the 
same  day.  Mine  was  dated  June  i6th,  and  appeared  in  the 
Daily  News  on  the  23rd.  For  some  reason,  and  much  to  the 
annoyance  of  Mr.  Galenga,  his  account,  though  received  by 
the  Times,  was  not  published.  When  my  letter  appeared  it 
attracted  considerable  attention.  Mr.  W.  E.  Forster  called 
attention  to  it  in  the  House  of  Commons,  and  the  Duke  of 
Argyll  in  the  House  of  Lords. 

Mr.  Disraeli  was  then  Prime  Minister,  and  treated  the 
matter  very  lightly.  He  declared,  in  reply  to  a  statement 
that  persons  had  been  tortured  as  well  as  killed,  that  he 
doubted  whether  torture  was  practised  among  a  people 
"  who  generally  terminated  their  connection  with  culprits 
in  a  more  expeditious  manner."  He  spoke  of  the  Cir- 
cassians who  had  taken  a  large  share  in  the  plunder  and 
killing  of  the  Bulgarians  as  "  settlers  with  a  great  stake  in 
the  country."  His  light  manner  of  speaking  on  the  subject 
irritated  Members  on  both  sides  of  the  House,  who  recognised 


l-Jliott  &■  Fry  I. Id. 


SIR    HENRY    EI.IJOT 


THE  MOSLEM  ATROCITIES  IN  BULGARIA     17 

that  if  my  statements  were  true  they  constituted  a  damning 
charge  against  Turkish  methods  of  government  in  Bulgaria, 
and  demanded  at  least  serious  examination.  My  old  friend. 
Professor  Hunter,  in  the  House  of  Commons  said  that  he 
knew  me  as  a  "  slow-minded  man,  who  would  not  make 
statements  of  that  kind  without  being  satisfied  of  their 
truth." 

Mr.  (afterwards  Sir  John)  Robinson,  of  the  Daily  News, 
sent  me  a  telegram  reporting  what  Mr.  Disraeli  had  said,  and 
adding  that  he  desired  full  explanations.  Thereupon  I  saw 
various  friends,  and  especially  Dr.  Long  and  Dr.  Washburn, 
who  furnished  me  with  translations  of  a  mass  of  corre- 
spondence, from  which  I  wrote  a  second  and  longer  letter  to 
the  Daily  News,  In  my  first  letter  I  gave  the  names  of 
thirty-seven  villages  which  had  been  destroyed  and  whose  in- 
habitants had  been  tortured  or  killed.  In  the  second  letter, 
written  on  June  30th,  I  brought  the  number  of  destroyed 
villages  up  to  sixty,  and  stated  that  I  had  seen  an  official 
report  which  estimated  the  number  of  persons  killed  at 
12,000. 

It  should  be  understood  that  at  this  time  there  was  no 
revolt  in  Bulgaria,  though  there  had  been  considerable 
expression  of  discontent.  The  idea  of  the  Turks  was  to 
crush  out  the  spirit  of  the  Bulgarian  people,  and  thus  prevent 
revolt.  In  the  two  letters  mentioned  I  had  given  the  names 
of  the  sixty  villages  which  had  been  destroyed.  One 
London  journal,  which  got  into  trouble  with  Mr.  Labouchere 
of  Truth,  boldly  asserted  that  the  names  of  these  villages  did 
not  figure  in  any  known  map.  The  statement  may  have  been 
true  of  English  maps,  because  the  declaration  of  Mr. 
Schuyler,  the  United  States  Consul-General,  was  not  without 
a  basis  of  truth,  that  for  the  United  States  and  the  British 
Empire  I  was  the  discoverer  of  the  existence  of  Bulgaria. 
I  replied  to  the  statement  that  the  villages  were  as  easily 
identified  as  if  I  had  given  the  names  of  Yorkshire  or  Devon- 
shire villages,  and  I  urged  that  a  Commission  should  be  sent 
out  by  H.  M.  Government  to  make  a  report  upon  the  matter. 
The  pubhcation  of  the  second  letter  still  further  aroused 

c 


l8         FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

the  British  people.  These  letters,  in  the  words  of  Mr. 
Gladstone,  "  first  sounded  the  alarm  in  Europe." 

Meantime,  at  my  request,  Mr.  Robinson  sent  Mr.  Mac- 
gahan,  an  Irish-American  of  great  experience  and  fine 
character,  to  Bulgaria  to  report  more  fully  than  I  had  been 
able  to  do.  There  was  no  question  of  my  going,  and  that  for 
two  reasons.  First,  that  I  was  then  fully  occupied  with  pro- 
fessional work,  and  secondly,  that  beyond  doubt  difficulties 
would  have  been  placed  in  my  way  by  the  Turkish  Govern- 
ment ;  probably  they  would  even  have  refused  to  give  me  the 
necessary  local  passport.  The  selection  of  Mr.  Macgahan 
was  a  happy  one.  He  was  a  friend  of  Mr.  Schuyler's.  Both 
of  them  had  been  in  Central  Asia  and  knew  something  of 
Russia,  and  neither  of  them  could  be  charged  with  having 
any  prejudice  against  the  Turks.  Mr.  Schuyler  went  on 
behalf  of  his  Government  to  make  a  report,  and  Mr.  Mac- 
gahan accompanied  him. 

One  of  the  first  places  they  visited  was  Batak,  the  des- 
truction of  which  had  been  mentioned  in  my  first  letter. 
From  thence  Macgahan  sent  me  by  private  messenger  a 
telegram,  which  came  as  a  thunderbolt  to  the  British  pubUc. 
Its  contents  were  so  horrible  that  I  recognised  at  once  it 
would  not  be  transmitted  by  the  Turkish  authorities  in 
Constantinople.  I  therefore  sent  it  by  letter  to  be  dis- 
patched from  Bucarest.  It  was  followed  a  day  or  two 
afterwards  by  a  letter  which  I  sent  Ukewise  by  Bucarest. 

"  This  letter,  which  was  dated  2nd  August,  and  appeared  in 
the  Daily  News  about  a  week  later,  created  a  profound 
sensation,  not  only  in  Great  Britain  but  throughout  Eiurope. 
It  was  at  once  a  series  of  pictures  describing  with  photo- 
graphic accuracy  what  the  observers  had  seen  and  a  mass  of 
the  most  ghastly  stories  they  had  heard  on  trustworthy 
authority.  They  had  seen  dogs  feeding  on  human  remains, 
heaps  of  human  skulls,  skeletons  nearly  entire,  rotting 
clothing,  human  hair,  and  flesh  putrid  and  lying  in  one  foul 
heap.  They  saw  the  town  with  not  a  roof  left,  with  women 
here  and  there  wailing  their  dead  amid  the  ruins.     They 


THE  MOSLEM  ATROCITIES  IN  BULGARIA    19 

examined  the  heap  and  found  that  the  skulls  and  skeletons 
were  all  small  and  that  the  clothing  was  that  of  women  and 
girls.  Macgahan  counted  a  hundred  skulls  immediately 
around  him.  The  skeletons  were  headless,  shewing  that 
these  victims  had  been  beheaded.  Further  on  they  saw  the 
skeletons  of  two  little  children  lying  side  by  side  with 
frightful  sabre  cuts  on  their  little  skulls.  Macgahan 
remarked  that  the  number  of  children  killed  in  these  mas- 
sacres was  something  enormous.  They  heard  on  trust- 
worthy authority  from  eye-witnesses  that  they  were  often 
spiked  on  bayonets.  There  was  not  a  house  beneath  the 
ruins  of  which  he  and  Mr.  Schuyler  did  not  see  human 
remains,  and  the  streets  were  strewn  with  them.  When  they 
drew  nigh  the  church  they  found  the  ground  covered  with 
skeletons  and  lots  of  putrid  flesh.  In  the  church  itself  the 
sight  was  so  appalling  that  I  do  not  care  to  reproduce  the 
terrible  description  given  by  Macgahan, 

"  Batak,  where  these  horrors  occurred,  is  situated  about 
thirty  miles  from  Tartar  Bazarjik,  which  is  on  the  railway 
and  on  a  spur  of  the  Rhodope  Mountains.  It  was  a  thriving 
town,  rich  and  prosperous  in  comparison  with  neighbouring 
Moslem  villages.  Its  population  previous  to  the  massacres 
was  about  9,000.  Macgahan  remarks  that  its  prosperity 
had  excited  the  envy  and  jealousy  of  its  Moslem  neighbours. 
I  elsewhere  remark  that,  in  all  the  Moslem  atrocities,  Chiot, 
Bulgarian,  and  Armenian,  the  principal  incentive  has  been 
the  larger  prosperity  of  the  Christian  population ;  for,  in 
spite  of  centuries  of  oppression  and  plunder.  Christian 
industry  and  Christian  morahty  everywhere  make  for 
national  wealth  and  intelligence."  * 

Mr.  Gladstone,  with  the  scepticism  which  rightly  char- 
acterised a  statesman  dealing  with  allegations  of  so  terrible 
a  character  as  those  contained  in  my  letters  already  men- 
tioned and  in  subsequent  ones,  and  in  the  admirable  letters 

*  The  preceding  paragraphs  have  been  reproduced  by  kind 
permission  of  Messrs.  Methuen  and  Co.,  from  pp.  213-4  of  Turkey 
and  its  People,  written  by  me  and  pubUshed  by  that  firm. 


20         FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

of  Mr.  Macgahan,  hesitated  for  some  time  to  make  any  public 
declaration  on  the  subject.  Mr.  Schuyler  had  produced  an 
official  report.  What  is  more  important  is  that,  on  the 
pressure  from  both  sides  of  the  House,  Mr.  Disraeli's  Govern- 
ment had  consented  to  send  a  Commissioner  to  make  a  like 
examination. 

Mr.  Walter  Baring,  then  a  secretary  of  embassy  at 
Constantinople,  was  chosen  for  the  task.  Sir  Henry 
Elliot  was  asserted  by  Mr.  Disraeli,  quite  incorrectly  as 
was  found  subsequently,  to  have  denied  the  accuracy  of 
some  of  the  statements  which  appeared  in  my  two  letters, 
and  to  have  declared  others  greatly  exaggerated.  Hence 
Europe  was  aroused  at  the  appointment  of  Mr.  Baring. 
Many  persons  believed  that  he  was  named  in  order  to  put  the 
most  favoiu"able  aspect  on  the  doings  of  the  Turk.  He 
did  his  work  ably,  thoroughly,  and  impartially.  When  on 
September  lo,  1876,  Mr.  Baring's  report  was  published, 
Mr.  Gladstone  concluded  that  the  evidence  upon  the  charges 
was  complete,  and  shortly  afterwards  he  published  a  pam- 
phlet under  the  title  of  Bulgarian  Horrors  and  the  Question 
of  the  East.  In  this  pamphlet  he  wrote  as  follows  :  "  The 
first  alarm  respecting  the  Bulgarian  outrages  was,  I  believe, 
sounded  in  the  Daily  News  on  the  23rd  June.  I  am  sensible 
of  the  many  services  constantly  rendered  by  free  journalism 
to  humanity,  to  freedom,  and  to  justice.  I  do  not  under- 
value the  performances,  on  this  occasion,  of  the  Times,  the 
doyen  of  the  press  in  this  country,  and  perhaps  in  the  world, 
or  of  the  Daily  Telegraph  and  our  other  great  organs.  But  of 
all  these  services,  so  far  as  my  knowledge  goes,  that  which  has 
been  rendered  by  the  Daily  News,  through  its  foreign  cor- 
respondence on  this  occasion,  has  been  the  most  weighty,  I 
may  say,  the  most  splendid."  He  adds  :  "I  believe  it  is 
understood  that  the  gentleman  who  has  fought  this  battle — 
for  a  battle  it  has  been — with  such  courage,  intelligence, 
and  conscientious  care,  is  Mr.  Pears,  of  Constantinople, 
correspondent  of  the  Daily  News." 

The  agitation  due  to  the  publication  of  Mr.  Baring's 
report,  and  of  other  evidence,  received  an  immense  impetus 


THE  MOSLEM  ATROCITIES  IN  BULGARIA     21 

from  Mr.  Gladstone's  pamphlet.  Public  meetings  were  held 
in  nearly  every  important  town  in  the  British  Islands,  in 
upwards  of  a  hundred  of  which  I  was  thanked  for  my  share 
in  the  exposure  of  Turkey's  misdeeds.  The  agitation  spread 
throughout  Europe,  and  especially  to  Russia,  where  the 
letters  and  reports  on  the  subject  in  the  English  newspapers 
were  reproduced. 

I  should  like  here  to  do  an  act  of  justice.  During  this 
time,  the  summer  of  1876,  the  late  Sir  Henry  Elliot  received 
a  large  number  of  letters  and  telegrams  from  indignant 
correspondents.  These  were  occasioned  not  by  anything 
which  he  had  said  or  done,  but  by  the  conduct  of  Mr. 
Disraeli.  On  one  occasion  he,  the  Prime  Minister,  produced 
what  appeared  like  a  telegram  in  the  House  of  Commons, 
and  declared  that  he  had  a  telegram  from  Sir  Henry  Elliot 
saying  that  the  alleged  atrocities  were  gross  exaggerations, 
and  adding  words  which  created  the  impression  in  the 
country  that  Sir  Henry  was  the  defender  of  the  abomination 
of  the  Turks  and  the  Circassians. 

To  me  the  situation  was  puzzling.  I  knew  that  my  friend 
Dr.  Washburn  had  left  with  our  Ambassador  a  copy  of  the 
statement  which  subsequently  had  been  given  both  to  me 
and  to  Mr.  Galenga,  and  that  after  a  few  days  Sir  Henry 
had  returned  it  to  Dr.  Washburn  with  the  remark  that  it 
was  a  terrible  business.  I  knew  Sir  Henry  to  be  essentially 
an  English  gentleman,  and  at  once  wrote  to  the  Daily  News 
that  I  did  not  believe  that  our  Ambassador  had  made  any 
statement  of  the  kind.  Two  or  three  years  afterwards,  when 
Sir  Henry  was  Ambassador  at  Vienna,  Mr.  Layard  having 
been  transferred  from  Madrid  to  Constantinople  as  his 
successor  on  March  31,  1877,  Sir  Henry  informed  Dr. 
Washburn,  who  was  dining  with  him,  that  he  had  never  sent 
such  a  telegram  to  Mr.  Disraeli,  and  that  the  importance 
which  the  public  attached  to  this  imaginary  telegram  placed 
him  in  the  difficulty  of  deciding  whether  he  should  remain 
under  the  imputation  of  sending  a  message  which  Washburn 
and  I  knew  to  be  a  perversion  of  the  truth,  or  should  state 
the  fact  and  thus  throw  the  responsibiUty  upon  Mr.  Disraeli. 


22         FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

Meantime  the  agitation  in  England  had  compelled  Mr. 
Disraeli  to  take  steps  for  the  better  government  of  Bulgaria, 
and  other  provinces  in  European  Turkey. 

A  conference  of  the  representatives  of  the  Powers  was 
called  together  in  Constantinople  on  December  ii,  which 
Lord  Salisbury  attended  as  British  plenipotentiary.  Their 
object  was  to  persuade  the  Porte  to  adopt  reforms  in  the 
Balkan  Peninsula  which  would  satisfy  the  reasonable 
demands  of  the  people  and  prevent  the  recurrence  of 
massacres  such  as  those  that  had  occurred  in  Bulgaria.  I 
believe  every  representative  earnestly  desired  the  main- 
tenance of  peace,  and  none  more  sincerely  than  the  two 
ablest  members  present.  Lord  Salisbury  and  General 
Ignatiev.  SaUsbury  desired  it  because  he  recognised  that  it 
was  intolerable  that  England  should  consent  to  the  mis- 
government  which  had  led  to  the  Bulgarian  horrors,  and 
because  also  the  emotion  and  growing  hostility  in  England 
towards  Turkey  and  against  Mr.  Disraeli's  government 
could  only  be  appeased  by  obtaining  from  the  Porte  a 
promise  of  reforms  which  if  executed  would  presumably 
secure  better  government.  Ignatiev  desired  it  because 
Russia  had  always  shewn  herself  sincerely  anxious  to 
maintain  her  role  as  the  traditional  protector  of  the  Christian 
subjects  of  the  Sultan,  and  further  because  she  was  not 
prepared  for  war. 

Lord  Salisbury  arrived  in  Constantinople  on  December  5, 
1876.  He  soon  recognised  that  Ignatiev  was  the  strongest 
of  his  colleagues  and  they  got  on  well  together.  The 
Conference  met  on  December  23.  A  project  of  reforms 
was  submitted  and  was  accepted  by  all  the  representatives  of 
foreign  States,  except  by  the  Turkish,  but  the  Porte  would 
have  none  of  it.  Praiseworthy  attempts  were  made  to 
modify  the  form  of  the  demands  so  that  they  should  be 
acceptable,  but  the  Turk  would  have  no  reforms.  He  was 
told,  with  perfect  truth,  that  Russia  was  the  only  country 
that  would  go  to  war  for  the  Christians,  that  Russia  was  not 
prepared  for  war  and  that  no  other  Power  would  support 
her.    The  Porte  became  the  more  obdurate  as  it  found 


THE  MOSLEM  ATROCITIES  IN  BULGARIA     23 

that  the  members  of  the  Conference  were  prepared  to  make 
modifications  in  their  scheme.  It  was  unfortunate  also 
that  there  was  supposed  to  be  dissension  between  Lord 
SaHsbury  and  Sir  Henry  Elliot,  the  latter  of  whom  was 
represented  as  opposing  his  colleagues'  designs.  I  remember 
one  newspaper  which  came  out  with  a  flaming  leader  on 
these  supposed  dissensions,  headed  "  Bravo,  Sir  Elliot." 

To  the  regret  of  the  members  and  of  all  the  foreign 
colonies  in  Constantinople,  as  well  as  the  sober  minded 
amongst  the  Turks  themselves,  the  Conference  broke  up,  on 
January  20,  after  sitting  for  nearly  six  weeks,  and  Lord 
Salisbury  may  even  be  said  to  have  been  hooted  out  of  the 
city.  It  was  serious  business,  and  many  of  us  felt  that  it 
meant  war. 

On  the  last  evening  before  the  departure  of  Lord 
Salisbury,  he  held  a  small  reception  in  the  Hotel  Royale, 
at  which  I  was  present.  One  incident  remains  in  my 
memory.  I  was  talking  with  Mr.  F.  I.  Scudamore,  a  man 
of  keen  intelligence,  who  had  been  one  of  the  secretaries 
of  the  General  Post  Office  in  London.  We  observed  that 
Lord  Salisbury  was  detained  in  conversation  for  a  long  time 
by  Lady  Strangford,  a  woman  who  had  devoted  much  of 
her  time  to  the  welfare  of  the  Turkish  people.  She  was 
below  the  average  height,  and  Lord  Salisbury  well  above  it, 
and  the  two  figures  would  not  have  made  a  bad  subject  for 
the  caricaturist,  he  listening  intently,  she  speaking  with 
great  vivacity  and  earnestness.  When  the  conversation 
ceased.  Lord  Salisbury  came  over  to  Mr.  Scudamore  and  me 
and  informed  us  that  Lady  Strangford  had  been  employed 
during  the  whole  time  in  singing  the  praises  of  the  Turk, 
"  but,"  added  he,  "  she  rather  spoilt  it  by  her  last  remark." 
One  of  us  ventured  to  enquire  what  it  was,  and  the  answer 
was  that  she  felt  bound  to  admit  that  the  Turk  was  destitute 
of  capacity.  "So,"  said  Salisbury  to  Lady  Strangford, 
"  your  diagnosis  of  the  Turk  is  that  he  is  a  combination  of 
angel  and  fool." 

In  spite  of  Lord  Salisbury's  clearly  expressed  intimations 
to  the  contrary,  Abdul  Hamid  continued  to  hope  for  British 


24        FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

support  and  rejected  the  protocol  presented  by  the  Powers, 
in  which  were  recapitulated  their  demands.  He  was 
apparently  relying  upon  Great  Britain's  suspicion  of  Russia, 
and  nothing  seemed  capable  of  convincing  him  that  Great 
Britain  would  allow  Russia  to  attack  Turkey.  The  Czar, 
however,  declared  war  on  April  24,  his  declaration  being 
made  in  a  document  of  great  dignity,  and  unanswerable 
as  to  its  facts. 

This  is  not  the  place  to  tell  the  subsequent  story  of 
Bulgaria,  but  before  dismissing  the  subject  I  must  say  a 
few  words  about  my  colleague  Macgahan.  After  Russia 
had  declared  war,  Macgahan  continued  to  act  as  Special 
Correspondent  of  the  Daily  News  during  that  war.  I  should 
think  that  he  was  never  a  strong  man,  but  in  doing  his  duty 
he  never  spared  himself,  and  when  in  the  spring  of  the 
following  year,  1878,  the  Russian  Army  arrived  at  San 
Stefano,  twelve  miles  from  Constantinople,  he  was  greatly 
weakened  by  his  work.  Typhoid  was  raging,  and  I  therefore 
proposed  that  he  should  live  with  me  at  our  summer  residence 
in  the  island  of  Prinkipo,  a  proposition  which  he  gladly 
accepted.  He  was  the  delight  of  all  members  of  the  family, 
and  especially  of  one  of  my  boys,  who  knew  almost  by  heart 
his  Northern  Lights,  a  story  of  his  adventures  in  the  Arctic 
Seas,  where  I  believe  he  represented  the  New  York  Herald. 
The  two  would  sit  on  the  edge  of  a  pond  in  my  garden  and 
construct  fleets  of  paper  boats  and  amuse  themselves, 
Macgahan  getting  stronger  every  day.  After  some  three 
weeks'  stay  he  went  to  Pera,  frankly  against  my  advice, 
with  the  intention  of  remaining  a  few  days.  Typhoid 
caught  him  and  I  accompanied  him  to  the  British  Hospital, 
where  the  best  possible  medical  aid  was  given  to  save  a  life 
very  dear  to  many  of  us.  After  a  short  illness  he  died.  I 
remember  General  Skobeleff  coming  to  see  him  as  he  lay 
dead,  and  crying  bitterly  over  him.  He  also  attended  the 
funeral,  which  I  arranged.  Years  afterwards  Macgahan's 
remains  were  transported  to  the  United  States. 


CHAPTER  III 

THE  RUSSO-TURKISH  WAR 

The  Russo-Turkish  War  Begins — Battle  of  Shenova — 
British  Fleet  in  Besika  Bay — British  Colony  still  Hos- 
tile— British  Fleet  at  Prinkipo — Leaves  Turkey — Did 
Arrival  of  British  Fleet  Prevent  Russian  Occupation  ? 
Baker  Pasha  and  Suliman — Skobeleff  and  the  Taking 
of  Constantinople — My  Visit  to  Him  in  Camp — Re- 
markable Unanswered  Telegram  to  Czar — Personal 
Reminiscences — Fellow  Correspondents,  Galenga, 
George  Augustus  Sala — A  Correspondent  Impostor — 
Remarkable  Solution  of  a  Prize  Case. 

AT  the  outset  both  countries  found  themselves  faced 
with  the  difficulties  arising  from  unpreparedness, 
incompetence,  and  corruption.  The  Russians, 
however,  crossed  the  Danube  on  July  2 ;  a  fortnight  later 
Nicopolis  fell,  and  the  Shipka  Pass  was  seized  by  Gourko. 
These  sudden  successes  inclined  the  Czar  towards  the  idea 
that  peace  might  be  near,  and  the  British  Attache  at  the 
Russian  headquarters  left  for  London  after  having  an 
interview  with  the  Czar.  In  the  meantime  Osman  Pasha 
had  seized  Plevna,  an  act  that  changed  the  whole  com- 
plexion of  the  war.  For  five  months  the  Turk  defied  the 
Russians  and  held  up  their  advance,  inflicting  on  them 
enormous  losses.  Fortune  seemed  to  have  changed  sides  ; 
for  a  time  the  Turkish  arms  triumphed.  Gourko  was  forced 
from  the  Shipka  Pass  and  in  Armenia  Mukhtar  Pasha 
drove  back  the  invaders  in  disorder.  Gradually,  however, 
the  Russian  masses  prevailed,  Plevna  was  formally  invested, 
and  on  December  10  Osman  Pasha  capitulated  with  his  half- 
starved  army  after  a  brave  endeavour  to  cut  his  way 
through  the  enemy, 

25 


26         FORTY  YEARS   IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

After  the  fall  of  Plevna  the  immediate  object  was  to  follow 
up  the  Turks.  The  Russian  army  was  divided  into  two 
parts.  Gourko  took  charge  of  the  larger  and  proceeded  to 
Sofia.  A  more  important  movement  was  made  by 
Skobeleff,  who  executed  one  of  the  boldest  moves  of  his 
career.  Gourko  had  gone  round  the  western  end  of  the 
Balkans  ;  Skobeleff  determined  to  go  over  the  range.  On 
the  southern  side  of  the  Shipka  Pass  an  army  of  80,000 
Turks,  under  Vessel  Pasha,  was  encamped  at  a  place 
called  Shenova. 

The  Pass  had  been  strongly  fortified  after  the  retreat  of  the 
Russians,  its  great  forts  being  those  of  St.  George  ;  but  to 
the  right  and  left  of  the  Pass,  at  a  distance  varying  from  four 
to  six  miles,  were  sheep  tracks,  known  to  the  Bulgarian 
peasants.  Skobeleff  set  part  of  his  army  to  make  a  feint  to 
attack  the  forts  in  Shipka  Pass  ;  Prince  Mirsky  was  placed 
in  command  of  the  portion  of  the  army  which  went  by  the 
sheep  track  to  the  east  of  it,  whilst  Skobeleff  took  charge 
of  that  which  went  to  the  west.  The  lines  of  these  two 
last  Generals  were  so  long,  the  men  having  to  pass  in  Indian 
file,  that  when  the  first  soldiers  arrived  on  the  plain  to  the  south 
of  the  Balkans  the  last  man  had  not  started  on  the  journey. 

Mirsky  and  Skobeleff  collected  their  forces  together,  the 
Turks  apparently  thinking  that  the  weather  was  too  cold 
and  the  quantity  of  snow  too  great  to  permit  the  Russians 
to  attack,  except  along  the  main  high-road  of  Shipka  Pass. 
After,  however,  Mirsky  and  Skobeleff  had  joined  forces,  they 
attacked  Vessel's  army,  and  Skobeleff  told  me  that  a  bayonet 
charge  took  place  which  he  believed  to  be  the  longest  in 
history ;  nothing  was  heard  but  the  clash  of  steel  during  seven 
minutes.  At  the  end  of  that  time  Vessel  asked  on  what 
terms  he  would  accept  surrender.  Skobeleff  replied,  "  Ab- 
solute surrender  of  the  army  and  that  a  messenger  be  sent  up 
to  St.  George  to  order  the  surrender  of  its  forts."  These 
terms  were  accepted,  and  before  night  closed  70,000  men 
were  being  bundled  in  furious  haste  northward  through  the 
Shipka  Pass,  from  whence  they  passed  as  rapidly  as  possible 
to  Russian  prisons. 


THE  |RUSSO-TURKISH  WAR  27 

The  Czar,  in  recognition  of  this  daring  and  successful 
attempt,  ordered  Skobeleff  to  inscribe  the  name  Shenova  on 
his  standard.  After  this  defeat  the  Turks  were  anxious  to 
make  peace,  and  sent  parUamentaries  almost  to  the  foot  of 
the  Balkans,  but  without  giving  them  full  powers.  The 
Russians  refused  to  accept  them  as  authorised  persons,  or  to 
check  their  progress  for  a  single  hour.  They  pressed  on  to 
Philippopolis  in  spite  of  the  severe  winter.  When  the 
powers  did  eventually  arrive,  the  Russians  were  within  a 
few  miles  of  San  Stefano.     This  brought  an  end  to  the  war. 

The  British  Fleet  had  arrived  in  Besika  Bay  near  the 
Aegean  end  of  the  Dardanelles  in  May,  1876.  In  the  middle 
of  February,  1878,  it  passed  through  the  Dardanelles,  and 
this  without  the  consent  of  the  Sultan.  For  some  weeks  it 
remained  in  the  Gulf  of  Ismidt,  but  when  the  Russian  army 
advanced  to  San  Stefano  it  steamed  up  to  Prinkipo,  where 
it  anchored,  the  flagship  Alexandra  being  immediately 
opposite  our  house.  Daily  we  heard  its  bands  playing  that 
most  banal  of  music-hall  songs,  which  added  a  new  word  to 
the  language,  or  gave  it  rebirth.     The  chorus  was, 

"  We  don't  want  to  fight,  but  by  Jingo  if  we  do. 
We've  got  the  ships,  we've  got  the  men,  we've  got  the 

money  too. 
The  Rooshun  bear  we've  thrashed  before,  and  while  we're 

Britons  true. 
The  Rooshuns  shall  not  have  Constantinople." 

By  the  time  war  was  declared  the  attitude  of  a  considerable 
portion  of  the  British  Colony  had  changed.  The  residents 
were  moved  by  the  outrages  in  Bulgaria,  were  surprised  by 
the  outcry  which  the  report  of  them  had  made  in  England, 
read  attentively  the  Times  and  other  English  papers,  and 
asked,  were  these  reports  true  ?  Mr.  Schuyler's  report, 
followed  by  that  of  Mr.  Baring,  aroused  their  interest,  and  I 
no  longer  stood  alone  in  denouncing  the  ill-government  of 
the  Turk.    But  much  of  the  old  leaven  remained. 

It  is  indeed  difficult  to  exaggerate  the  curious  feeling  of 
hostility  which  had  been  shewn,  especially  among  old 
residents,  by  otherwise  reasonable  men  towards  Russia. 


28        FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

Nothing  that  sh«  could  do  was  right.  Her  Ambassador  in 
Constantinople,  General  Ignatiev,  was  spoken  of  quite 
commonly  as  the  "  Prince  of  Liars."  In  conversation  a 
friend  of  mine  alluded  to  this  designation  and  declared  that 
he  deceived  his  colleagues  by  telling  them  the  truth. 

The  colony  was  still  under  the  influence  of  the  im- 
pressions created  by  the  Crimean  war.  The  arrival  of 
the  Fleet  somewhat  increased  this  influence.  Indeed,  the 
colony  itself  was  saturated  with  Rip  Van  Winkleism.  The 
mails  from  England  never  took  less  than  eight  days,  whereas 
during  the  last  twenty  years  they  have  been  running  with 
fair  regularity  in  three.  Almost  the  only  newspaper  received 
in  the  colony  was  the  Times,  and  when  its  numbers  were 
received  in  batches  of  six  at  a  time,  and  not  unseldom,  owing 
to  bad  weather,  in  batches  of  twelve  or  even  eighteen,  it  will 
readily  be  understood  that  their  contents  were  very  lightly 
scanned.  The  same  sort  of  ignorance  and  prejudice  existed 
in  reference  to  the  United  States,  much  to  my  surprise. 

In  England  I  had  been  a  member  of  a  committee,  founded, 
I  believe,  by  Mr.  Thomas  Hughes,  and  of  which  a  prominent 
member  was  Lord  Edmund  Fitzmaurice,  then  a  young 
man,  the  object  of  which  was  to  improve  the  relations 
between  the  two  great  branches  of  the  English-speaking 
world.  I  found  the  Americans  just  as  prejudiced  against 
everything  British  as  the  British  colony  was  against  every- 
thing Russian.  On  an  early  occasion  at  a  meeting  where 
many  Americans  were  present  and  something  was  said  about 
religious  belief,  I  created  somewhat  of  a  flutter  by  declaring 
that  I  believed  in  one  God,  and  in  the  union  of  the  English- 
speaking  peoples,  though  I  admitted  that  my  creed  contained 
other  articles.  I  found,  however,  that  the  Americans 
themselves  were  curiously  anti-Russian  and  pro-Turkish. 

There  is  no  one  who  has  a  higher  appreciation  than  I  of  the 
work  done  by  American  missionaries  in  Turkey.  Whenever 
such  mission  exists,  it  is  a  centre  of  hght  and  civilisation. 
But  I  well  remember  that  an  American  missionary  who  was 
the  head  of  an  important  college  in  the  interior  came  to  me 


THE  RUSSO-TURKISH  WAR  29 

with  a  remonstrance  at  making  public  the  Moslem  atrocities 
in  Bulgaria.  Like  many  Englishmen  he  told  me  that  to  do 
so  was  to  play  into  the  hands  of  Russia.  I  replied  very 
sharply  that  if  to  expose  such  abominations  had  that  result, 
then  I  should  continue  to  play  into  the  hands  of  Russia. 

Let  me  in  concluding  this  matter  say  that  I  soon  obtained 
the  confidence  of  the  leading  Americans  in  the  country,  and 
from  that  day  to  the  present  all  have  been  my  sincere 
friends.  When  I  was  expelled  from  the  country  in  Decem- 
ber, 1914,  my  wife  and  daughter  decided  to  remain  behind, 
and  every  letter  that  I  received  from  them  during  the  follow- 
ing months  spoke  of  the  constant  kindness  and  numerous 
visits  to  them  of  "  those  dear  Americans." 

We  saw  a  good  deal  of  the  officers  of  the  Fleet,  and  not  a 
day  passed  without  some  of  them  coming  to  our  house.  I 
formed  a  very  high  opinion  of  Admiral  Hornby  and,  although 
his  connections  and  even  his  position  inclined  him  to  hold 
different  opinions  from  mine,  he  always  spoke  reasonably 
and  sensibly.  Many  of  the  officers  who  were  in  and  out 
constantly  were,  as  naval  men  usually  are,  very  good  fellows, 
and  several  have  risen  to  high  distinction  in  the  service. 

During  the  summer  of  1878  with  its  long  negotiations 
for  peace,  Prinkipo  had  a  golden  time,  for  in  addition  to 
the  men  from  our  ships,  every  Sunday  two  or  three 
steamer-loads  of  Russian  officers  from  San  Stefano  came 
over  to  spend  a  happy  day.  General  Gourko  was  one,  and 
between  him  and  Admiral  Hornby  there  were  very  friendly 
greetings  and  apparently  a  sincere  friendship.  When,  six 
months  after  the  preliminary  signature  of  peace  on  March  3, 
1878,  a  great  review  of  the  Russian  troops  was  held  at  San 
Stefano  at  about  the  middle  of  September,  a  party  of  officers 
from  the  Fleet,  with  myself  included,  went  over  to  see  it.  We 
agreed  to  make  independent  estimates  of  the  number  of 
troops  who  took  part  in  it.  Our  estimates  differed  greatly, 
some  being  as  high  as  150,000,  the  lowest  being  95,000. 
We  generally  agreed  on  comparing  our  estimates  that  120,000 
would  represent  those  who  took  part  in  the  great  march  past. 


30         FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

A  week  afterwards  I  left  for  England,  and  a  fortnight 
after  the  review  lunched  at  the  mess  of  an  English  dragoon 
regiment.  Prizes  were  being  given  for  the  best-set-up  men. 
It  was,  of  course,  in  the  pre-khaki  days.  Very  resplendent 
did  our  men  look,  a  brilliant  spectacle  for  all  spectators, 
but  coming  from  Turkey,  where  I  had  seen  so  many  thou- 
sands of  soldiers  who  had  endured  the  rigours  of  a  Balkan 
winter  in  which  many  men  were  frozen  to  death  at  their 
posts,  as  subsequently  illustrated  in  the  realistic  paintings 
of  Verestchagin,  I  could  not  help  remarking  that  the 
Russian  troops  were  clothed  in  a  more  practical  fashion  for 
the  work  they  had  to  do.  They  had  a  cap  which  they  could 
pull  down  over  their  ears  and  would  keep  them  warm,  instead 
of  the  useless  undress  saucer  of  our  men.  They  had  strong 
boots  which  came  up  well  above  their  calf,  into  which  they 
tucked  their  trousers  and  which  were  fastened  by  a  strap 
and  buckle.  Instead  of  looking  smart  in  their  scarlet  tunics 
they  had  a  loose  and  serviceable  one.  Speaking  of  this 
difference  after  the  lunch  to  two  of  the  officers,  one  said  he 
agreed  with  me  as  to  the  unserviceable  character  of  the  dress 
and  mentioned  the  fact  that  in  the  manoeuvres  which  had 
taken  place  two  or  three  months  earUer,  two-thirds  of  their 
men  had  not  taken  off  their  top-boots  because  it  had  been 
raining  during  the  whole  week.  They  beUeved  that  if  they 
had  taken  them  off  they  would  never  have  been  able  to  get 
them  on  again. 

Early  in  November,  1878,  the  British  Fleet  left  Turkish 
waters.  Before  quitting  the  subject  of  our  Fleet's  visit  to 
the  neighbourhood  of  Constantinople,  I  may  be  allowed  to 
report  a  conversation  which  took  place  many  years  after- 
wards and  which  to  most  of  my  readers  will  suggest  thought 
as  to  the  policy  of  our  Government.  EngHshmen  whose 
memory  goes  back  to  that  period  probably  arrived  at  the 
conclusion  often  still  expressed,  that  it  was  the  dispatch  of 
our  Fleet  under  Admiral  Hornby  to  the  Marmara  which 
prevented  the  Russians  from  occupying  the  city.  I  thought 
so  too,  at  the  time,  but  many  years  afterwards  Sir  WilUam 
White,   when  Ambassador  in   Constantinople,    told  me   a 


THE  RUSSO-TURKISH  WAR  31 

different  story.  In  the  course  of  a  conversation  I  had 
remarked  that  I  supposed  it  was  the  bringing  up  of  our  Fleet 
and  the  dispatch  of  Indian  troops  to  Malta  which  prevented 
such  occupation.  Sir  William,  who  knew  more  of  the  secret 
politics  of  the  Balkan  States  than  any  man  I  ever  met,  and 
who  was  a  big,  heavy  man  with  so  loud  a  voice  that  the 
Turks  spoke  of  him  as  the  Bosporus  bull,  roared  at  me, 
"  Mr.  Pears,  I  gave  you  credit  for  much  better  knowledge. 
Don't  you  know  the  story  ?  "  I  confessed  my  ignorance. 
"  Then  I  will  tell  you  it.  Bismarck,  the  only  man  who 
knew  of  the  secret  arrangement  with  Austria,  by  which 
Russia  was  permitted  to  cross  the  Balkans  (as  elsewhere 
related),  in  consideration  of  Austria  having  the  right  to  ad- 
minister Bosnia  and  Herzegovina,  learned  that  Austria 
was  making  arrangements  for  mobilising  her  army  because 
Russian  troops  had  pushed  on  to  San  Stefano.  He  knew 
also  of  the  British  preparations  with  regard  to  our  Fleet  and 
the  dispatch  of  Indian  troops.  He  therefore  at  once 
telegraphed  to  the  Emperor  of  Austria  advising  him  to  do 
nothing.  '  England  will  do  our  business.'  Austria  did 
not  mobiUse,  and  England  obtained  the  credit  or  the  odium 
of  having  saved  Turkey  from  the  occupation  of  its  capital, 
and  of  having  become  the  one  friend  of  Turkey." 

During  the  Russo-Turkish  war  Constantinople  was  by  no 
means  a  place  of  unmixed  pleasure  in  which  to  Uve.  After 
the  Russians  had  crossed  the  Danube,  crowds  of  Moslem 
refugees,  including  many  Circassians,  came  into  Con- 
stantinople, bringing  with  them  the  plunder  which  they  had 
taken  from  Christian  villages.  They  crowded  the  city  and 
caused  an  outbreak  of  typhoid,  small-pox,  and  other  diseases. 
They  encamped  wherever  there  was  spare  ground,  drove 
their  cattle  and  donkeys  before  them,  and  offered  their 
booty  for  sale.  Amongst  such  plunder,  priests'  robes,  ikons, 
chahces,  altar  cloths  and  other  things  belonging  to  churches 
figured  largely.  Several  of  us  EngUsh  consulted  together 
to  find  whether  we  could  purchase  the  church  furnitiue  with 
the  object  of  restoring  it  to  its  rightful  owners  after  the  war. 


32         FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

Some  few  things  were  thus  restored.  We  decided,  however, 
that  as  it  was  usually  impossible  to  learn  where  the  things 
came  from  the  attempt  was  useless.  I  purchased  a  silver 
chalice  for  its  weight  in  that  metal.  A  friend  bought  a  fine 
donkey  for  a  medjid,  worth  three  shilhngs  and  eight  pence. 
A  handsomely  embroidered  altar  frontal  so  purchased 
decorated  my  wife's  drawing-room  for  many  years. 

It  was  during  this  time  that  Colonel  Valentine  Baker 
came  to  Constantinople  and  took  service  with  the  Sultan. 
He  had  been  Colonel  of  the  loth  Hussars,  had  seen  service 
in  the  Crimea,  and  had  a  high  reputation  in  the  British 
Army  as  a  cavalry  officer  and  as  a  strategist.  But  he  had 
been  compelled  to  leave  it  under  circumstances  which,  when 
Her  Majesty  announced  in  the  Gazette  that  she  had  no 
further  need  for  his  services,  must  have  made  many  a  good 
man  say  with  the  old  Puritan,  on  seeing  a  man  go  to  exe- 
cution, "  There  goes  John  Bradford,  but  for  the  grace  of 
God."  He  was  a  man  of  extensive  knowledge  and  of  great 
charm,  one  whom  we  all  got  to  like  and  to  respect. 

In  the  course  of  the  war  he  was  placed  under  Suliman 
Pasha,  who  was  charged  with  defending  the  western  portion 
of  the  Balkans  and  the  Pass  from  there  to  the  Rhodope 
Mountains.  When  Plevna  was  captured  by  the  Russians, 
December  lo,  1877,  General  Gourko,  the  Russian  General 
who  had  distinguished  himself  in  the  Crimea,  pushed  on  to 
Sofia,  while  in  January,  1878,  occurred  the  great  defeat  of 
the  Turks  at  Shenova,  south  of  the  Shipka  Pass.  While 
Skobeleff  had  crossed  the  Balkans  to  fight  that  battle, 
Suliman  had  withdrawn  his  army  into  the  Rhodope,  and 
General  Gourko  began  to  push  on  southwards  towards 
Philippopolis.  Baker  was  of  opinion  that  it  would  have 
been  an  easy  matter  to  prevent  Gourko's  advance.  His 
chief,  Suliman,  however,  withdrew  into  the  mountains, 
went  back  and  then  forward  again,  and  behaved  in  such  a 
manner  that,  after  Baker  retiurned  to  Constantinople  upon 
the  complete  defeat  of  the  Turks,  nothing  could  persuade 
him  that  Suliman  had  not  acted  treacherously. 


THE  RUSSO-TURKISH  WAR  33 

Baker  had  then  become  my  neighbour  at  Prinkipo,  and 
we  discussed  the  foolish  movements  of  Suliman  on  various 
occasions.  I  suggested  that  it  was  a  case  of  imbeciHty,  not 
of  treason,  but  he  persisted  in  his  conclusion.  Shortly  after- 
wards Baker  returned  to  England,  was  f^ted  by  the  officers 
of  his  old  regiment  and  by  many  distinguished  soldiers,  and 
then  came  back  to  Turkey.  On  his  return  I  asked  him 
one  day  whether  he  still  maintained  that  Suliman  was  a 
traitor.  His  answer  was,  "  I  think  you  were  right.  It  was 
a  case  of  imbecility."  I  shall  have  more  to  say  of  Baker 
Pasha  when  I  deal  with  my  next  period. 

General  Skobeleff  and  I  had  many  conversations  in 
reference  to  Russia  and  England.  He  was  proud  of  his 
British  descent,  his  great-grandfather  having  been  a 
Scotsman  who  had  taken  service  in  Russia.  He  spoke 
English  like  an  Englishman,  and  claimed  that  he  had  read 
all  the  six  volumes  of  Wellington's  dispatches  and  believed 
him  to  have  been  the  greatest  strategist  of  modern  times,  a 
man  whom  England,  as  he  thought,  curiously  underrated. 
In  the  course  of  one  of  my  conversations,  he  remarked 
that  every  Russian  was  born  with  the  belief  that  it 
was  the  destiny  of  his  country  to  take  possession  of  Con- 
stantinople. Their  Emperor  was  the  legitimate  successor  of 
those  who  had  reigned  on  the  Bosporus.  Russia's  pro- 
tection of  the  Christians  of  Turkey,  which  practically  meant 
the  protection  of  the  adherents  of  the  Orthodox  Church, 
was  considered  as  only  what  was  natural  among  by  far  the 
most  important  branch  of  such  Church.  Russians  could 
not  consent  to  see  their  brethren  of  the  same  Church  subject 
to  the  persecutions  and  perpetual  tyranny  of  Moslems,  and 
therefore  his  country  would  never  be  content  until  they 
were  all  set  free,  and  that  result  could  only  be  accomplished 
by  the  acquisition  of  Constantinople. 

"  And  when,  in  your  opinion,  is  that  likely  to  happen  ?  " 

The  answer  was,  "  It  is  impossible  that  we  should  attempt 

to  hold  Constantinople  leaving  a  strong  power  like  Austria 

in  our  rear.     Our  road  to  this  capital  lies  through  Vienna." 

D 


34         FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

I  confess  I  am  a  little  doubtful  whether  Skobelef!  was 
quite  sincere  in  implying  that  the  Russians  were  not  pre- 
pared even  at  that  time  to  occupy  Constantinople  ;  because 
there  was  then  an  army  of  150,000  Russians  within 
twenty  miles  of  the  city,  mostly  between  San  Stefano, 
twelve  miles  distant,  and  the  Euxine ;  while  opposed  to  it  a 
Turkish  army  which  had  .been  badly  beaten  and  was  utterly 
demoraUsed.  A  Hne  had  been  drawn  outside  Constantinople 
beyond  which  neither  the  Russian  nor  Turkish  troops  were 
to  advance,  but  Baker  Pasha  informed  me  that  the  Russians 
were  constantly  exercising  their  men  right  up  to  such  Une, 
and  performing  manoeuvres  which  he  and  other  ofl&cers  in  the 
Turkish  service  believed  to  be  provocative.  He  was  convinced 
indeed  that  Skobeleff  at  least  wished  to  bring  about  a  fight 
which  would  have  resulted  in  the  occupation  of  the  capital. 

If  such  were  Skobeleff's  desire,  it  would  have  been  in 
keeping  with  his  habits  and  character.  In  Central  Asia  he 
had  won  his  great  victories  by  exceptional  daring,  so 
exceptional,  indeed,  that  he  had  the  reputation  among  his 
men  of  bearing  a  charmed  life.  He  usually  dressed  in  a 
white  imiform  and  was  known  among  the  Turks  as  the  Ak, 
or  White,  Pasha.  I  passed  three  days  with  him  at  Derwent, 
about  twenty  miles  from  Constantinople,  with  my  eldest  son. 
On  one  of  these  days  there  was  a  special  review  in  honour 
of  a  Finnish  general  who  was  adored  by  his  troops.  I  was 
greatly  interested,  not  merely  in  the  military  movements, 
but  with  the  large  number  of  blue-eyed  and  fair-haired  men 
amongst  them.  On  returning  from  the  review  to  our  camp 
the  regiment  was  preceded  by  a  body  of  stalwart  soldiers  who 
looked  as  if  they  belonged  to  a  race  of  giants.  During  om: 
four-mile  march  they  sang  in  the  lustiest  manner,  one  of 
them  being  noted  as  an  improvisator.  An  aide-de-camp  by 
whom  we  were  accompanied  translated  much  of  what  the 
man  sang.  He  made  jokes  at  the  expense  of  the  officers, 
at  which  there  was  Homeric  laughter.  He  celebrated  the 
deeds  of  the  Finnish  general,  at  which  they  applauded  with 
equal  gusto.  They  formed  a  glorious  and  happy  company 
of  fighting  veterans. 


THE  RUSSO-TURKISH   WAR  35 

On  one  of  the  evenings  we  attended  evening  prayers  at 
which  15,000  men  formed  a  huge  square.  All  joined 
heartily  in  the  Amens.  The  distance  from  the  officiating 
priest  was  so  great  that  Skobeleff  and  I  were  able  to  converse 
without  being  observed.  The  only  portion  of  his  conver- 
sation which  is  worth  noting  is  that  in  his  opinion  con- 
stitutional government  in  Russia  on  English  lines  was 
difficult,  though  he  had  no  doubt  that  the  country  would 
arrive  before  long  at  having  some  sort  of  representative 
assembly.  The  difficulty  of  forming  a  second  chamber  was 
greatly  enhanced  by  the  fact  of  their  having  a  large  number 
of  notables  and  especially  of  princes,  too  numerous  to  be  got 
rid  of,  and  yet  an  element  that  would  have  to  be  considered. 
"  In  the  regiments  around  us,"  said  he,  "  there  are  probably 
at  least  from  sixty  to  a  hundred  Princes."  We  talked  of 
English  politics.  The  one  point  which  he  could  not  under- 
stand was  how  the  Disraeli  party  could  support  the  Turks  in 
their  abominations.  When  I  returned  to  Constantinople 
he  gave  me  his  portrait,  with  an  inscription  upon  it,  as  a 
memento  of  the  time  we  had  passed  together. 

As  to  the  question  whether  the  Russians  entertained  the 
idea  of  occupying  Constantinople  at  that  time,  I  heard  a 
curious  story  which  was  supported  by  telegrams  published 
three  or  four  years  later  in,  I  think.  La  Revue  Diplomatique. 
It  was  asserted  that  the  Grand  Duke,  who  was  in  command 
of  the  Russian  Army  when  before  Constantinople,  sent  three 
telegrams  to  the  Czar.  The  first  two  related  to  military 
dispositions  and  have  no  interest  for  us  ;  the  third  substan- 
tially said,  "  Our  troops  can  see  the  dome  of  S.  Sophia 
and  constantly  ask  when  they  are  going  to  be  present 
there  at  a  Christian  service.  We  can  occupy  the  city,  and 
the  sacrifice  of  life  at  the  outside  would  not  be  more  than 
7,000  men.  Shall  we  occupy  it  ?  "  Within  the  next  two 
days  answers  came  to  the  two  telegrams  regarding  military 
dispositions  :  no  answer  was  ever  received  to  the  third.  The 
Czar  had  given  his  promise  that  Constantinople  should  not 
be  occupied,  and  the  suggestion  was  that  no  answer  was  sent 
because  the  Czar  was  unwilling  to  take  the  responsibility  of 


36        FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

breaking  his  word.  Or  was  he  willing  to  allow  the  Grand 
Duke  to  act  on  his  own  responsibility  and  then  if  the  Powers 
objected  to  disown  the  Grand  Duke's  act  ?     Who  knows  ? 

There  are  certain  personal  reminiscences  concerning  the 
war  which  I  may  note.  We  had  a  number  of  distinguished 
correspondents  of  English,  French,  and  German  papers  in  the 
city.  Galenga,  who  represented  the  Times,  had  been  a 
friend  of  Mazzini,  of  Cavour  and  of  Garibaldi.  He  was  a 
man  of  stern  inflexibility,  yet  agreeable  and  essentially 
kindly.  George  Augustus  Sala  was  the  Special  Correspon- 
dent of  the  Daily  Telegraph,  and  delighted  everybody  by  the 
exuberance  of  his  good  humour  and  the  versatility  of  his 
talents.  He  could  let  out,  however,  when  occasion  needed 
it,  being,  as  is  well  known,  a  man  of  very  passionate  temper. 
I  was  present  with  three  or  four  of  my  colleagues  when  a 
consul  who  was  rather  notorious  for  giving  himself  airs 
described  us  to  a  companion  as  "  les  va-nu-pieds  de  cor- 
respondants."  Sala  heard  it  and  gave  him  a  trouncing 
in  French  which  astonished  the  consul  and  pleased  all 
of  us. 

As  to  Sala's  versatiUty,  Galenga  told  me  a  good  story. 
When  he  was  with  Sala  in  America,  Galenga  had  remarked 
to  him  that  he  did  not  believe  there  was  any  subject  on 
which  he,  Sala,  could  not  write  an  interesting  letter.  Sala 
agreed,  and  said,  "  Give  me  a  subject."  At  that  time 
Galenga's  old  boots  were  standing  by  the  door,  and  their 
owner  said,  "  Write  on  old  boots."  Three  or  four  weeks 
afterwards  there  came  back  from  England  a  quite  charming 
letter  on  "  old  boots."     He  was  a  true  litterateur. 

With  Sala  was  associated,  for  the  Daily  Telegraph,  Sir 
Campbell  Clark,  not  yet  knighted,  a  man  whom  we  all 
learned  to  like,  and  who  put  together  scraps  of  information 
so  as  to  astonish  Lord  Salisbury  at  the  Berlin  Congress  into 
admitting  that  he  had  rightly  constructed  the  Cyprus 
Convention.  There  was  also  Melton  Prior,  correspondent 
of  the  Illustrated  London  News.  The  Pall  Mall  Gazette  was 
represented  by  M.  Barrfere,  afterwards,  and  for  a  long  period, 


THE  RUSSO-TURKISH  WAR  37 

the  French  Ambassador  in  Rome.  Mr.  Carl  Schneider 
represented  a  leading  German  newspaper,  I  think  the 
Frankfurter  Zeitung,  and  M.  ChevaHer  the  Temps  of  Paris. 
All  these,  with  two  or  three  others,  met  on  three  or  four 
evenings  in  the  week,  frankly  pooled  their  news,  and  thus 
sent  their  accounts  to  Europe,  free  from  the  recklessness 
which  characterises  so  many  telegrams  of  the  present  day, 
which  leave  the  experienced  correspondent  with  an  impres- 
sion of  want  of  care  as  to  their  veracity. 

It  was  suggested,  I  think  by  Mr.  Melton  Prior,  the  artist 
correspondent  of  the  Illustrated  London  News,  that  the 
correspondents  should  be  photographed  in  a  group.  The 
fact  that  I  am  in  the  chair  requires  the  following  explanation. 
I  protested  against  being  given  such  a  post  of  honour,  but 
Galenga  said,  "  No,  you  led  this  business.  We  followed." 
Sala  took  up  the  same  position,  and  thus  in  a  certain  sense 
I  was  forced  into  it. 

Before  leaving  the  question  of  correspondents,  I  may 
mention  the  following  incident.  In  the  autumn  of  1876 
I  went  to  Alexandria.  The  steamer  by  which  I  returned 
touched  only  at  the  Piraeus,  Between  Athens  and  that 
port  I  made  the  acquaintance  of  an  Austrian,  a  soldier  and  a 
gentleman.  He  spoke  very  little  English,  and  our  con- 
versation was  in  French.  At  the  Piraeus  we  were  joined  by 
an  EngUshman,  whom  I  will  call  Captain  Smith,  though  that 
was  not  his  name.  He  had  been  master,  so  he  said,  of  an 
English  merchant  vessel,  and  as  such  had  taken  part  in  the 
Crimean  war.  By  his  own  account  he  presented  himself  to 
me  and  my  Austrian  friend  as  an  unprincipled  man.  He 
boasted  of  having  sold  in  the  Crimea  a  cargo  of  cattle  to  the 
British  commissariat,  which  he  had  been  paid  for,  and  which 
he  had  been  ordered  to  retain  on  board  his  vessel  until 
further  orders.  As  there  was  some  delay  he  went  round  the 
point  and  sold  it  to  the  French  commissariat  and  once  more 
received  payment.  There  was  again  a  little  delay,  and  he 
retiurned  and  delivered  the  cargo  to  the  British.  My 
Austrian  friend,  who  understood  English  better  than  he 
spoke  it,  made  a  comment  which  Captain  Smith  did  not 


38         FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 
understand.     I  replied  that  there  were  vauriens  among 
all   people,    and    I    supposed    that   our    companion   was 
one. 

But  this  was  nothing  to  what  he  then  told  us.  Sub- 
stantially it  was  in  the  following  words.  "  There  is  a  fellow 
in  Constantinople  who  has  been  making  the  devil  of  a  row 
about  what  he  calls  Moslem  atrocities  in  Bulgaria.  Now,  I 
was  thrown  out  of  work  by  the  stoppage  of  a  newspaper," 
and  he  produced  his  card,  upon  which  he  was  called 
"  Representative  "  of  the  paper  in  question,  which  had 
recently  ceased  publication.  Thereupon  it  occurred  to 
him  to  visit  the  Turkish  Ambassador  in  London,  to  call 
his  attention  to  what  this  fellow  had  done,  and  to  propose 
that  the  Ambassador  should  send  him  with  a  good  salary, 
furnished  with  letters  of  introduction,  to  the  Grand 
Vizier  and  other  authorities.  He  would  then  go  out 
to  Turkey  and  find  atrocities  on  the  other  side,  and 
he  added,  with  a  twinkle  of  familiarity,  that  he  "  could 
find  them." 

The  Ambassador  welcomed  the  proposition.  I  expressed 
my  scepticism,  and  he  thereupon  produced  from  his  pocket 
a  letter  to  the  Grand  Vizier,  sealed,  of  course,  and  two  open 
letters  written  in  French  which  shewed  that  he  was  to  be 
furnished  with  horses  and  carriages  and  every  facility  for 
making  a  report  upon  Bulgaria.  A  portion  of  the  con- 
versation was  followed  by  my  Austrian  friend,  I  occasionally 
helping  him  out  where  he  did  not  completely  follow  it,  and 
when  we  had  got  rid  of  the  Captain  he  expressed  his  in- 
dignation in  the  strongest  terms  that  he  could  find  in  the 
French  language.  We  arrived  in  Constantinople  early 
next  morning.  Later  in  the  day,  to  my  surprise,  I  saw 
Captain  Smith,  accompanied  by  the  correspondent  of  an 
illustrated  paper  whom  I  greatly  respected,  come  into  the 
club  where  I  was  lunching.  When  he  saw  me  there  was  a 
silly  look  upon  his  face,  shewing  that  he  had  been  informed 
who  the  fellow  was  whose  reports  he  was  to  write  down.  I 
took  him  aside,  and  told  him  that  I  should  watch  carefully 
the  paper  for  which  he  said  he  was  going  to  write.    As  long 


THE  RUSSO-TURKISH  WAR  39 

as  his  reports  were  fair  I  should  say  nothing  about  them, 
but  if  he  invented  atrocities  I  should  tell  my  story.  He 
took  the  remarks  in  fairly  good  humour. 

Next  day  the  correspondent,  whom  I  knew  well,  a 
considerably  younger  man  than  myself,  came  to  me  and 
asked  my  advice.  "  This  Captain  Smith,"  said  he,  "  has 
now  obtained,  in  French  and  Turkish,  letters  by  the  Grand 
Vizier  to  the  Vali  and  all  in  authority  in  Bulgaria,  ordering 
them  to  supply  him  and  his  companion  with  horses  and  a 
carriage,  and  to  see  that  they  are  well  entertained  wherever 
they  go  ;  and  he  suggests  that  I  should  go  as  his  companion, 
he  undertaking  to  pay  all  my  expenses,  which,  considering 
my  arrangement  with  my  newspaper,  is  very  important 
for  me."  My  reply  was  that  I  was  convinced  he  was  a  bad 
lot,  but  recognised  that  the  temptation  to  have  all  his 
expenses  paid  was  a  very  strong  one.  He  went.  A  month 
afterwards  he  returned,  and  called  on  me.  "  Where's  your 
friend  ?  "  I  asked.  "  Oh,  I  stood  him  for  three  weeks,  but 
nothing  would  have  induced  me  to  stay  longer  with  him.  He 
is  a  much  bigger  scoundrel  than  even  you  took  him  to  be." 
Such  are  the  things  that  happened  in  Turkey  in  the 
'seventies. 

I  may  here  relate  an  incident  arising  out  of  the  Turko- 
Russian  war  which  may  amuse  my  fellow  members  of  the 
bar.  I  was  retained  on  behalf  of  two  ships  and  their 
cargoes,  which  had  been  seized  in  the  Bosporus  for  attempt- 
ing to  run  the  blockade  proclaimed  by  the  Turks  against 
Russia.  The  real  question  was  not  one  of  fact,  but  the 
purely  technical  one  of  continuing  voyage.  Their  cargoes 
had  been  shipped  in  Russia,  and  the  Turks  claimed  that  they 
were  not  free  from  arrest  until  they  were  in  the  Aegean.  I 
maintained  the  contrary.  Two  embassies  were  concerned, 
inasmuch  as  the  cargoes  belonged  to  the  subjects  of  one 
nation  and  the  ships  to  another. 

With  the  object  of  having  at  least  a  chance  of  justice,  I 
called  upon  both  the  Ambassadors,  who  each  agreed  that  if 
I  made  application  to  the  ordinary  Turkish  courts  a  decision 


40        FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

would  be  given  by  which  my  clients  would  lose  both  ships 
and  cargoes.  I  asked  therefore  for  a  Prize  Court  which 
should  have  some  members  on  it  who  would  not  be  ready  to 
obey  the  mere  orders  of  the  executive.  Both  Ambassadors 
gave  me  the  strongest  assurances  that  they  would  make 
representations  to  such  effect.  The  matter  was  pressing,  as 
both  ships  were  under  demurrage.  The  Ambassador  for 
Patagonia,  as  I  will  call  him,  was  the  strongest  in  his 
assurances  that  such  a  Court  should  be  instituted.  Three 
weeks  passed  and  I  went  to  see  the  Patagonian.  He  assured 
me  that  he  was  doing  all  that  he  possibly  could,  and  in  spite 
of  my  pointing  out  that  in  any  case  we  should  have  to  suffer 
heavily  for  demurrage,  he  replied  that  I  must  have  patience. 
On  my  way  from  his  residence  I  called  upon  Count  Corti, 
the  Italian  Ambassador.  I  informed  him  of  my  visit  to  his 
colleague,  when,  in  his  lively  Italian  fashion,  he  jumped  out  of 
his  chair  and  said,  "  Will  you  repeat  what  you  said  ?  "  I 
repeated  it  and  informed  him  that  I  would  give  it  to  him  in 
writing  if  he  liked.  "  No,"  he  replied,  "  your  word's 
enough.  But  what  you  tell  me  explains  the  difficulties  that 
I  have  met  with.  Let  me  hear  you  state  your  case,  and  I'll 
oppose  your  arguments." 

Count  Corti  had  been  Chairman  of  the  Commission  at 
Washington  which  had  decided  upon  the  claims  of  England 
in  similar  cases  brought  forward  contemporaneously  with 
America's  claims  upon  England  arising  out  of  the  Alabama. 
I  stated  my  case.  He  opposed,  raked  me  with  questions 
and  even  went  so  far  as  to  say,  "  I  am  putting  these  questions 
not  because  I  am  opposing  you  really,  but  I  want  to  know 
what  can  be  said  on  the  other  side."  We  spent  a  good  hour 
together,  then  he  jumped  out  of  his  seat  and  said,  "  You've 
beaten  me,  and  now  I  am  more  than  a  match  for  the  Pata- 
gonian." He  asked  me  to  give  him  four  and  twenty  hours 
and  to  return  the  next  evening. 

When  I  went  he  informed  me  that  he  had  had  a  long 
argument  with  the  legal  representative  of  the  Sultan,  and 
had  shewn  them  that  our  view  was  right.  "  But,"  said  he, 
"  the  Sultan  wants  if  he  possibly  can  to  preserve  the  prin- 


THE  RUSSO-TURKISH  WAR  41 

ciple.  It  seems  to  me  that  such  a  state  of  circumstances  is 
not  likely  to  occur  again,  and  I  have  arranged  a  programme 
by  which  you  shall  get  your  ships  and  cargoes  if  you  will  fall 
in  with  it.  Are  you  ready  to  take  part  in  a  farce  ?  "  I 
replied  that  I  was  ready  for  farce  or  comedy,  but  not  for 
tragedy.  "  Then,"  said  he,  "  you  shall  have  your  ships  and 
cargo  and  I  shall  beat  the  Patagonian.  You  will  be  sum- 
moned to-morrow  for  a  meeting  on  the  following  day  of  a 
specially  constituted  Prize  Court  of  eleven  members.  My 
dragoman  will  be  there,  but  you  must  not  see  him,  still  less 
speak  to  him.  The  advocate  for  the  Government  will  ask 
that  you  shall  be  condemned.  You  will  reply.  You  will 
be  condemned,  and  the  next  day,  by  special  grace  of  the 
Sultan,  you  will  be  pardoned.  In  that  way  His  Majesty 
thinks  that  he  will  save  the  principle.  The  only  person 
in  the  court  who  will  know  of  the  little  farce  which  I 
have  arranged,  besides  yourself,  will  be  the  President. 
Play  your  part  with  confidence,  and  leave  the  rest  to 
me." 

I  was  cited  as  arranged,  and  to  my  surprise,  when  I 
entered  the  Court,  instead  of  taking  the  usual  place  assigned 
to  defendant's  counsel,  I  was  invited  by  the  President,  a  fine 
old  Turk  whom  I  knew  slightly,  to  take  a  chair  next  to  him  on 
his  left.  He  whispered  to  me,  "  The  farce  will  begin  if  you 
are  ready."  I  nodded  assent,  and  the  Crown  Advocate 
asked  for  my  condemnation,  and  took  half  an  hour  to 
develop  his  case.  Then  I  was  called  upon,  and,  being  very 
full  of  my  subject,  proceeded  to  demoHsh  my  opponent's 
argument  entirely  to  my  own  satisfaction.  Indeed,  I  spoke 
so  confidently  that  the  President  pulled  me  slightly  and 
whispered,  "  Ne  pressez  pas  la  chose  trop  loin,"  and  at  the 
end  of  about  half  an  hour  I  sat  down.  My  opponent  got  up 
to  reply,  when  the  President  said,  to  the  surprise  of  every- 
body, "  We  don't  want  to  hear  any  more  arguments,"  and 
requested  us  to  retire  while  the  Court  deliberated.  This  we 
did,  and  after  about  three-quarters  of  an  hour,  much  to 
my  surprise  at  the  length  of  the  delay  when  the  conclu- 
sion was  foregone,  we  were  called  in  and  my  cUents  were 


42        FORTY   YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

condemned.  The  President  whispered  to  me,  "  The  second 
act  is  finished ;  the  third  will  commence  and  finish  to- 
morrow." As  had  been  arranged,  ships  and  cargo  were 
released. 


CHAPTER  IV 


EAST  AND   WEST 


The  Anti-Russian  British  Colony — An  Address  to  Sir 
Henry  ElHot — I  Protest — Journalism  Extraordinary — 
Mr.  Layard  Becomes  Ambassador — The  Marquess  of 
Bath — "  A  Year  Behind  the  Fair  " — Mr.  W.  E.  Forster — 
A  Grand  Vizier's  Rudeness — Mr,  Hughes's  Revenge — ■ 
"The  Only  Gentleman  in  Europe" — British  Tommies 
and  a  Turkish  Toll  Collector — Gallantry  and  Death — 
A  Strange  Court  Scene — ^The  Scots  at  Hasskewi — How 
a  Lawyer  Cannot  be  a  Jackass, 

THE  British  colony  in  Constantinople  continued  to 
be  anti-Russian,  though  with  decreasing  violence. 
I  had  many  struggles  with  its  leading  members, 
who  wished  to  issue  declarations  for  the  English  papers  on 
behalf  of  the  colony  in  favour  of  the  Turks,  Many  of  these 
struggles  possessed  only  a  temporary  interest,  but  one  is 
worth  noticing.  The  pressure  upon  the  Government  by 
English  public  opinion  to  remove  Sir  Henry  Elliot  became 
too  strong  to  be  resisted.  It  was  notorious  that  he  and  Lord 
Salisbury  had  differed  widely  in  opinion,  and  it  was  still  the 
impression  that  he  had  defended  the  Turkish  outrages, 
though  he  had  known  the  truth  regarding  them.  Hence, 
early  in  1878,  he  was  removed  from  Constantinople  to  Vienna. 
Thereupon  a  meeting  of  the  colony  was  called  to  prepare  an 
address  to  him.  On  such  an  occasion  it  was  right  and  proper 
that  every  kindly  thing  consistent  with  truth  should  be  said 
of  him.  An  address  had  been  prepared  by  a  prominent 
member  of  the  community,  which  had  given  unqualified 
approval  of  his  policy  and  spoke  in  very  high  terms  of  his 
private  character. 

43 


44        FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

At  the  meeting  I  strongly  objected  to  any  approval  of  his 
policy,  and  my  objection  aroused  great  opposition.  Among 
the  men  present  was  Mr.  Morgan  Foster,  President  of  the 
Ottoman  Bank,  also  a  newspaper  proprietor  who  was  in 
receipt  of  a  subsidy  from  the  Turkish  Government,  and 
many  men  who  were  or  had  been  and  hoped  again  to  be  in 
contractual  relations  with  the  Government.  They  angrily 
defended  the  clause,  and  three  or  four  of  them  declared  that 
I  stood  alone  in  objecting  to  it.  I  did  stand  alone  at  the 
meeting.  But  at  that  time  we  had  a  very  remarkable  and 
interesting  colony  of  British  (mostly  Scots)  engineers  at 
Hasskewi,  on  the  Golden  Horn,  who  had  recently  come  from 
England,  and  whose  instincts  were  still  British.  I  had  met 
some  of  the  members  and  found  that  they  were  not  under  the 
influence  of  Crimean  traditions,  and  probably  few  of  them 
ever  saw  a  newspaper  costing  more  than  a  penny.  When, 
therefore,  I  was  told  that  I  stood  alone  in  disapproving  the 
policy  which  Sir  Henry  pursued,  I  replied  without  hesitation 
that  if  they  carried  the  resolution  approving  of  his  political 
conduct,  I  would  get  up  a  counter  demonstration  and  under- 
take to  obtain  at  least  as  many  and  probably  more  signatures 
against  it.  I  was  angrily  told  that  I  could  not  do  so,  but  the 
Chairman,  who  knew  something  of  the  colony,  pointed  out 
that  it  was  most  desirable  that  the  meeting  should  be 
unanimous,  and  at  his  request  the  members  consented  to  the 
omission  of  the  phrase  objected  to. 

I  saw  Mr.  Galenga  on  the  evening  after  this  meeting  had 
taken  place.  Great,  therefore,  was  his  surprise  and  mine 
when  we  saw  the  address  printed  in  the  subsidised  English 
paper  containing  the  passage  which  it  had  been  agreed  to 
omit.  I  immediately  wrote  to  the  editor,  shewing  the 
letter  to  Galenga,  and  sent  it  by  a  messenger  who  was  to 
wait  for  the  answer.  He  brought  an  answer  within  a  half- 
hour,  and  the  editor  informed  us  that  it  had  been  inserted  by 
mistake  !  We  were  both  incredulous,  and  Mr.  Galenga  in 
the  columns  of  the  Times  explained  what  had  been  done. 

I  have  said  that  this  feeling  in  favour  of  the  Turks  and  of 
hostility  towards  Russia  existed  most  strongly  during  the 


EAST  AND  WEST  45 

early  part  of  the  war.  At  that  time  I  believed  that  I  stood 
alone  in  the  British  colony,  for  though  amongst  the  engineers 
at  Hasskewi  I  found  there  was  a  strong  sentiment  in  favour 
of  my  views,  I  was  unaware  of  the  fact.  Some  amongst  the 
Americans  were  with  me  from  the  first.  The  position  may 
be  gathered  from  a  remark  made  by  the  Marquess  of  Bath. 
Shortly  after  the  arrival  of  Mr.  Layard,  who  was  transferred 
from  Madrid  to  Constantinople  on  March  31,  1877,  in 
succession  to  Sir  Henry  Elliot,  Lord  Bath  called  on  me.  He 
was  an  excellent  specimen  of  a  most  useful  class  in  the  Lords. 
He  belonged  to  the  Tory  Party,  but  had  a  singular  aloofness 
of  character  which  made  his  judgment  upon  political  events 
and  public  characters  illuminating  to  one  like  myself  who 
had  fewer  opportunities  of  hearing  both  sides.  He  took 
notes  of  every  conversation  he  had  with  me.  Even  in  the 
streets  he  would  pull  out  his  note-book  and  make  a  short 
entry.  In  the  Eastern  question  he  was  a  strong  supporter  of 
Gladstone.    He  passed  some  days  at  Prinkipo. 

On  one  occasion,  after  dining  at  our  house,  when  the 
three  or  four  other  guests  who  had  been  present  went  in  to 
the  sala,  we  remained  alone.  The  last  to  leave  was  a 
friend,  fluent  in  speech  and  usually  of  good  judgment,  but 
who  had  been  pouring  out  a  string  of  complaints  against  the 
Turks,  whom  he  knew  well,  declaring  that  they  were  hope- 
less. Lord  Bath  remarked,  "  I  expected  to  find  you,  '  the 
voice  of  one  crying  in  the  wilderness,'  but  I  find  that  every- 
one whom  I  meet  agrees  with  your  view  of  the  Turks.'* 
My  answer  was,  "  You  are  a  year  behind  the  fair.  The 
very  man  who  has  just  left  was  incapable  six  months  ago  of 
saying  anything  in  favour  of  the  Russians  or  against  the 
Turks."     Tempora  mutantur. 

Mr.  Forster  in  the  House  of  Commons,  and  the  Duke  of 
Argyll  in  the  Lords,  had  taken  great  interest  in  the  facts  I 
brought  to  light  regarding  the  Moslem  atrocities  in  Bulgaria. 
I  mention  them  in  particular,  not  only  from  their  con- 
spicuous position,  but  from  the  fact  that  both  were  men  of 
cool  judgment  and  of  great  human  sympathy.  The  Duke 
was  in  the  fulness  of  his  mental  power,  and  his  opinions. 


46        FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

expressed  both  in  the  House  of  Lords  and  elsewhere,  carried 
great  weight  with  the  thoughtful  portion  of  the  community. 
Mr.  Forster  determined  that  he  would  come  out  and  see  for 
himself.  This  he  did,  accompanied  by  his  son.  He  went  to 
Bucarest  and  Sofia  and  then  came  on  to  Constantinople. 
After  he  had  been  a  few  days  in  the  city  he  came  down  to  my 
house  at  Prinkipo  to  take  a  rest.  As  near  as  I  can  fix  the 
date,  this  would  be  in  September,  1876. 

Mr.  Forster  was  accompanied  on  his  visit  to  Prinkipo 
by  Mr.  Hughes,  who  had  been  Secretary  at  the  Embassy 
twenty  years  earUer.  At  that  time  he  had  as  his  colleagues 
one  or  two  who  were  distinguished  rather  by  their  eccen- 
tricity than  by  their  application.  The  late  Mr.  Labouchere 
had  some  curious  stories  to  tell  of  them.  One  related  of 
Mr.  Hughes,  which  was  told  many  years  since  in  an  English 
magazine  as  referring  to  one  of  his  colleagues,  Mr.  Alison,  is 
worth  telUng.  Both  these  men,  unlike  the  majority  of 
Secretaries,  had  made  themselves  first-class  Turkish  and 
Arabic  scholars.  The  great  elchee,  or  ambassador,  Strat- 
ford Canning,  subsequently  Lord  Stratford  de  Redcliffe,  was 
Ambassador,  a  man  of  whom  the  tradition  is  that  he  was 
exacting  in  his  work  from  the  Secretaries,  but  would  defend 
them  through  thick  and  thin  if  they  were  right. 

At  that  time  there  was  a  Grand  Vizier  who  prided  himself 
upon  being  rude  to  Secretaries  of  Embassy.  Hughes,  who 
spoke  Arabic  well,  had  to  see  him  upon  a  matter  of  business 
and  went  to  his  room  at  the  Sublime  Porte.  He  was 
ostentatiously  kept  waiting  several  minutes  by  the  Vizier 
and  then  was  allowed  to  explain  his  business.  In  the  course 
of  it  the  Vizier  rose  and  said  that  it  was  time  for  him  to  say 
his  prayers,  and  accordingly  went  through  them  in  the  same 
room.  At  the  end  he  said  a  prayer  aloud  which  is  only 
occasionally  used,  consigning  all  Giaours  to  a  very  warm 
place,  looking  meantime  towards  Hughes.  Then  he  returned 
to  his  chair  and  Hughes  continued  his  explanations  for  some 
minutes,  at  the  end  of  which  he  remarked,  "  It  is  time  for 
me  to  say  my  prayers."  He  accordingly  knelt  down,  said 
certain  prayers  in  Arabic,  concluding  with  one  made  up  for 


EAST  AND  WEST  47 

the  occasion.  He  prayed  that  Allah  would  make  a  fire  seven 
times  hotter  than  he  had  ever  before  dreamt  of,  and  would 
consign  to  it  all  Grand  Viziers  and  other  persons  who 
insulted  Christians.  The  Grand  Vizier  was  furious.  The 
interview  ended  abruptly,  and,  as  no  doubt  Hughes  antici- 
pated, the  Minister  complained  to  Lord  Stratford.  The 
Ambassador  looked  into  the  matter  and  replied  that  he,  the 
Grand  Vizier,  had  commenced  by  insulting  his  Secretary, 
and  that  the  Secretary  had  very  naturally  resented  the 
insult.  I  never  heard  that  anything  further  came  of  the 
matter. 

The  incident  is  interesting  as  marking  the  end  of  a  period 
during  which  the  Turks  considered  it  their  privilege  to  insult 
foreigners  with  impunity.  It  is  true  that  I  am  speaking  of  a 
period  when  some  foolish  person  started  the  theory  that  the 
Turk  was  the  only  gentleman  left  in  Europe.  There  is  an 
aspect  in  which  this  view  of  the  Turk  is  justij&ed.  Probably 
the  slaveholders  of  the  Southern  States  amongst  themselves 
were  tj^ical  gentlemen.  The  amenities  of  civilisation  were 
carefully  observed  between  them,  but  these  did  not  apply 
to  the  nigger.  Now  though  the  Turks  never  treated  foreigners 
with  the  same  indignity  that  they  treated  their  Christian 
fellow  subjects,  although  they,  like  those  subjects,  were 
Giaours,  there  was  always  a  tendency  amongst  them  to 
forget  that  though  a  man  was  a  Christian  he  was  not  a 
rayah,  and  it  took  upwards  of  a  generation,  even  in  Con- 
stantinople, to  get  rid  of  the  sentiment  in  the  Turkish  mind 
that  a  Christian  might  be  insulted  with  impunity. 

The  late  Mr.  Stavrides,  one  of  the  able  dragomans  attached 
to  our  Embassy,  had  many  stories  to  tell  illustrative  of  the 
Turkish  attitude  of  mind  towards  foreigners.  It  was 
awkward  when,  during  the  Crimean  war,  our  soldiers  came 
into  contact  with  lower-class  Turks  who  had  been  placed  in 
authority.  For  example,  Stavrides  told  of  two  life-guards- 
men who  were  passing  over  the  crowded  bridge  connecting 
Galata  with  Stambul.  They  observed  one  of  their  officers 
at  some  distance  before  them.  It  was  probably  the  first 
time  that  he  had  been  over  the  bridge  when  not  in  uniform, 


48    FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

and  did  not  know  the  rule,  still  prevailing,  that  soldiers  in 
uniform  pass  over  without  paying,  but  that  everyone  else 
has  to  pay.  The  collector  stopped  him  and  as  he  apparently 
did  not  know  why  he  was  stopped,  he  attempted  to  pass. 
The  collector  seized  him  roughly  as  he  would  have  done  any 
native  Christian.  The  two  men  of  his  troop  came  up, 
saluted  and  requested  him  to  pass  on.  They  would  attend 
to  the  collector.  The  officer  was  quite  ready  to  accept  their 
advice.  When  he  had  got  some  distance  away  they  took 
the  collector  by  the  hands  and  the  legs  and  simply  chucked 
him  over  into  the  Golden  Horn. 

Let  me  give  another  story  of  Stavrides  to  the  same  effect. 
The  palace  women,  always  beautifully  dressed  and  wearing 
the  thinnest  of  muslin  yashmaks,  often  drove  across  the  same 
bridge,  two  of  them  in  a  carriage  together,  followed  by  a 
eunuch  on  horseback.  As  a  French  officer  was  walking  over 
it,  two  of  these  ladies  kissed  their  hands  to  him.  Was 
there  ever  a  French  officer  who  would  have  been  rude 
enough  not  to  return  the  salute  ?  The  eunuch  saw  it, 
rushed  at  him  and  struck  him  a  heavy  blow  across  the  head 
with  his  whip.  The  officer  drew  his  sword,  ran  the  man 
through,  then  withdrew  it  and  coolly  wiped  it  on  the  man's 
clothes  and  went  his  way. 

There  was  a  great  fuss  at  the  palace,  not  so  much  because 
a  eunuch  had  been  killed  but  of  the  indignity  offered  to  a 
palace  servant.  Formal  complaint  was  made  to  General 
Canrobert,  who  at  that  time  was  with  a  portion  of  the 
French  Army  in  Scutari.  Canrobert  replied  to  the  Sultan 
that  he  had  made  enquiries  and  learnt  that  his  officer  had 
been  struck  by  a  black  creature  and  that  in  consequence 
the  officer  had  killed  him,  adding  that  if  he  had  not  done  so 
he  would  publicly  have  torn  the  epaulettes  from  his  shoulders 
in  the  presence  of  his  regiment.  It  was  a  rough  lesson,  but 
it  needed  to  be  given. 

Another  on  somewhat  the  same  lines  illustrates  the  same 
attitude  of  mind.  I  knew  the  Englishman  of  whom  the  story 
was  told  and,  having  heard  it  from  others,  I  persuaded  him 
one  day  to  give  his  own  version.    He  sued  a  man  in  the 


EAST  AND   WEST  49 

most  important  Turkish  court  for  tr^ng  "  mixed  cases," 
that  is,  between  Eiiropeans  and  Turkish  subjects.  When  the 
Turk  came  to  tell  his  tale  he  spoke  of  the  Englishman  as  a 
Giaour  or  infidel.  The  Englishman  complained.  Though 
the  judges  knew  perfectly  well  that  it  is  contrary  to  Turkish 
law  to  use  such  an  epithet,  they  did  not  interfere,  where- 
upon the  Englishman  said,  "  If  you  call  me  a  Giaour  again 
I  shall  take  the  law  into  my  own  hands."  The  Turk  at  once 
replied,  "  Well,  you  are  a  Giaour."  Thereupon  the  English- 
man stepped  across  the  floor  three  or  four  paces  and  gave  him 
one  on  the  nose  which  startled  him  and  the  court.  As  the 
blood  flowed  freely  there  was  a  great  hubbub  and  orders  were 
given  to  arrest  the  Englishman.  He  was  a  fine,  powerful 
fellow  and  instantly  smashed  the  stool  {scamnum  or  scamne 
in  common  parlance)  on  which  he  was  seated,  and  cried  out 
that  he  would  brain  the  first  man  who  laid  hands  upon  him. 
The  English  dragoman  who  first  told  me  the  story  said 
that  thereupon  everybody  hesitated  to  attack  the  English- 
man, and  he,  the  dragoman,  Alischan,  was  asked  by  the 
President  to  step  down  and  request  the  aggressor  to  apologise 
and  there  would  be  an  end  of  the  matter.  "  Apologise !  " 
said  the  Englishman,  "  not  a  bit  of  it.  He  insulted  me  and  I 
let  him  have  it."  Poor  Alischan  went  back  to  the  President 
and  said,  "  This  is  a  kind  of  Englishman  who  won't  stand  an 
insult,  and  I  can  do  nothing  with  him."  Thereupon  the 
court  ordered  the  proceedings  to  go  on  as  if  nothing  had 
happened. 

In  the  year  1875  I  lectured  to  the  Scots  at  Hasskewi,  and 
we  became  great  friends.  They  were  a  fine  body  of  men, 
sober,  honest,  and  self-reliant.  They  ran  their  own  school, 
their  own  Literary  Institute,  kept  their  own  minister  oi 
religion,  Presbyterian,  of  course,  and  successfully  established 
a  Co-operative  Association  in  order  to  keep  themselves  out 
of  the  hands  of  the  small  local  merchants.  It  must  have 
been  at  the  end  of  '75  that  I  attended  perhaps  the  largest 
meeting  of  purely  British  subjects  that  I  have  ever  seen  in 
Turkey.    This  was  organised  by  the  engineers  in  their 


50         FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

Hasskewi  Institute.  There  were  upwards  of  four  hundred 
persons  present,  consisting  mostly  of  about  two  hundred 
engineers  with  their  wives  and  relations.  On  the  platform 
were  nine  ministers  of  religion,  four  or  five  belonging  to  our 
Established  Church  and  the  others  Presbyterians. 

The  Chairman  was  Sir  Philip  Francis,  who  was  then  Consul- 
General  and  Judge.  Several  of  these  ministers  spoke.  It 
pleased  these  reverend  gentlemen,  taking  their  cue  from  the 
first  who  spoke,  to  attack  the  lawyers,  all,  of  course,  good- 
himiouredly.  Whereupon  Sir  Philip  passed  a  paper  to  me  : 
"  Go  for  these  parsons."  Nothing  that  I  said  is  worth 
recording  except  that  I  told  a  story  which  fetched  the 
audience  and  turned  the  tables  wonderfully  on  the  ministers. 
I  said  that  our  profession  at  least  required  us  to  be  intelUgent 
men ;  that,  as  they  knew,  English  law  depended  largely 
upon  precedent,  and  that  there  was  an  ancient  legal  case  I 
had  seen  which  settled  the  question  of  the  necessity  of 
intelligence  and  knowledge  between  the  clergy  and  the 
lawyers.  I  had  read  it  partly  in  old  English,  partly  in 
Norman  French,  and  partly  in  Latin,  and  it  was  to  this 
effect.  A  priest  brought  an  action  for  esclaunderie,  alleging 
that  the  defendant  had  called  him  "  une  grande  jackasse  " 
(really  what  I  had  read  was  "  un  ydamned  foole  ").  There- 
upon the  lawyer  of  the  defendant  declared  that  such  words 
would  not  give  rise  to  an  action.  Upon  that  the  court 
deliberated  and  gave  its  decision  in  favour  of  the  defendant 
"  parceque  un  homme  peut  estre  bon  prete  et  grande 
jackasse,"  but  otherwise  of  a  lawyer  {sed  aliter  d'un  attorney). 
The  audience  caught  the  point  and  roared  with  laughter,  in 
which  my  friends  the  clergy  joined. 

Going  back  to  Galata  that  moonlight  evening  along  the 
Golden  Horn,  Sir  Philip  Francis  asked  me  where  I  had  got 
my  story.  I  replied  that,  as  he  knew,  I  had  been  engaged 
in  editing  the  Law  Magazine  during  the  last  part  of  the  time 
I  was  in  England,  and  wanting  an  article  I  looked  up  old 
magazines  of  twenty  years  earUer  and  found  it  there. 
"  Then,"  said  he,  "  it  is  very  curious  how  things  rise  up  in 
judgment  against  a  man.    That  story  is  not  to  be  found  in 


EAST   AND  WEST  51 

the  law  books  at  all.  At  that  time  I  was  editing  the  Law 
Magazine,  and  had  a  friend  who  was  always  abusing  the 
clergy,  and  with  that  I  remarked  that  it  was  quite  possible  a 
man  should  not  be  learned  and  yet  be  good  at  his  own  work. 
He  admitted  that  that  was  so,  and  said  he  thought  he  could 
make  a  good  story  out  of  it ;  made  the  story  in  question  and 
then  put  it  into  old  English,  Norman  French,  and  Latin/' 
Sir  Francis  died  suddenly  on  board  the  British  dispatch  boat 
in  the  autumn  of  1876. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  REVOLUTION   OF  1876 

Turkey's  Finances — Heavy  Losses — The  Moral  Effect 
— Outcry  Against  the  Sultan's  Extravagance — His  Pas- 
sion for  Building — ^Abdul  Aziz  a  Prisoner — His  Suicide 
— A  Committee  of  Examination — The  Trial  of  Ministers 
— ^The  Tradition  of  the  Turkish  Palace — Murad  Ascends 
the  Throne — He  is  Deposed  and  Succeeded  by  Abdul 
Hamid — The  Question  of  a  Constitution — A  Revelation 
of  Abuses — The  New  Form  of  Government — A  Blunt 
Speaker — The  Traditional  Method — A  Question  of 
Right  or  Wrong. 

THE  revolution  that  had  occurred  in  Turkey  was 
almost  contemporaneous  with  the  more  serious 
events  in  Bulgaria  which  led  to  the  Russo- 
Turkish  war.  The  reigning  Sultan  was  Abdul  Aziz.  There 
was  general  dissatisfaction  in  the  country  due  to  the  heavy 
amount  of  taxation,  which  touched  all  classes,  and  to  the 
personal  extravagance  of  the  Sultan  and  his  harem.  The 
wealthier  inhabitants  of  Constantinople  had  been  in- 
fluenced by  the  practical  repudiation  of  the  National  Debt 
which  occurred  in  the  autimin  of  1875.  The  financial  blow 
was  great,  because  many  Turks  had  invested  all  their 
savings  in  Ottoman  seciuities,  following  in  this  respect  the 
example  of  English  and  French  subjects.  It  was  reported  at 
the  time  that  Lord  Stratford  de  Redcliffe,  one  of  the  ablest 
Ambassadors  that  any  coimtry  ever  sent  to  Turkey,  who  was 
then  living  in  retirement  in  England,  had  invested  the  whole 
of  his  savings  in  such  securities. 

In  consequence  of  the  repudiation  a  large  number  of 
English  and  French  bondholders  also  lost  very  heavily.    The 

52 


THE  REVOLUTION  OF  1876  53 

loss  fell  unfortunately,  in  hundreds  of  cases,  upon  cc«n- 
paratively  poor  persons,  the  widows  of  clergymen  and  other 
professional  men,  to  whom  the  difference  between  getting 
three  per  cent,  and  four  or  four  and  a  half  was  of  vital 
importance.  The  securities  went  down  to  next  to  nothing. 
It  is  true  that  by  a  subsequent  law,  called  the  Decree  of 
Moharem,  the  Turkish  Government  was  able  to  conciliate 
the  financial  classes  of  Europe  and  to  restore  very  largely  its 
financial  credit  by  setting  aside  the  revenues  arising  from 
six  articles  to  be  devoted  solely  to  the  payment  of  bond- 
holders, and  by  establishing  a  department  of  the  Government 
composed  of  representatives  of  foreign  states,  whose 
subjects  had  invested  money  in  Turkish  funds — a  depart- 
ment which,  because  it  was  managed  by  foreigners,  has  been 
the  only  successful  one  in  Turkey  since  it  was  established. 
But  this  was  of  Uttle  advantage  to  the  small  investors,  who, 
with  the  object  of  saving  something  out  of  the  wreck  of  their 
fortunes,  had  unfortunately  sold  their  securities. 

The  moral  effect  was  not  less  grave.  Public  confidence 
was  lost,  and  the  Turk,  who  had  been  upheld  in  England  and 
France  as  the  soul  of  honesty  and  truthfulness,  became 
discredited.  It  was  natural  that  it  should  be  so  when 
stories  like  the  following  came  out.  Mr.  Morgan  Foster,  the 
Director-General  of  the  Ottoman  Bank,  a  man  whose  repute 
was  beyond  cavil,  hearing  rumours  that  the  Turks  were 
about  to  repudiate,  called  upon  the  Grand  Vizier  to  learn 
the  truth.  He  was  assured  upon  the  Minister's  honour  that 
the  Government  had  no  idea  of  doing  anything  of  the  kind. 
The  very  next  day  the  Decree  of  Repudiation  was  issued,  and 
Mr.  Foster  declared  that  he  had  trustworthy  information 
that  it  had  already  been  signed  by  the  Grand  Vizier  himself 
before  he  visited  that  functionary. 

As  has  not  uncommonly  happened  in  Turkey,  public 
disaffection  turned  against  the  Sovereign.  The  charge 
brought  against  him  by  public  opinion  was  that  of  gross 
extravagance,  which  shewed  itself  in  the  construction  of 
palaces  on  the  Bosporus  and  in  the  neighb©urhood  of 
Constantinople. 


54         FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

The  persons  most  active  in  the  outcry  against  the  Sultan 
were  the  Ulema,  a  class  which  includes  all  Moslems  engaged 
in  teaching.  They  put  forward  the  students,  or  softas,  and 
these  men  made  daily  demonstrations  in  Stambul.  All 
things  being  ready,  the  Ministers  struck  their  blow.  A 
portion  of  the  Turkish  fleet  lay  off  the  beautiful  palace  of 
Dolmabagshe  on  the  Bosporus,  about  two  miles  north  of 
Seraglio  Point.  The  palace  was  surrounded  and  Abdul 
Aziz  was  made  prisoner.  No  opposition  was  made  either 
by  troops  or  the  fleet.  The  Sultan  was  taken  by  boat  from 
his  palace  to  a  beautiful  little  kiosk  at  Seraglio  Point.  After 
remaining  there  a  few  days  he  was  conveyed  back  to  the 
palace,  where,  on  June  4,  he  committed  suicide  by  opening 
the  veins  in  his  left  arm  with  a  pair  of  long,  thin,  and  pointed 
scissors  used  commonly  in  Turkey.  The  Ministers  were  very 
anxious  to  shew  that  the  case  was  one  of  suicide  and  not  of 
assassination,  and  accordingly  requested  each  foreign 
Embassy  to  send  its  medical  man  in  order  to  make  an 
examination  of  the  body.  Nineteen  men  took  part  in  the 
examination  and  signed  a  report  stating  that  Abdul  Aziz 
had  died  by  his  own  hand. 

The  story  told  by  his  mother  was  pathetic.  She  had  been 
allowed  freely  to  see  her  son,  and  at  his  request  lent  him  a 
pair  of  scissors  with  which  to  trim  his  beard.  She  was  able 
to  see  into  the  room  where  her  son  was  sitting  without 
entering,  and  the  first  alarm  as  to  his  death  was  given  by  her. 
She  saw  him  seated  in  an  arm-chair  with  his  head  leaning 
heavily  on  one  side.  When  she  and  others  hastened  into 
the  room  they  found  him  recently  dead  with  great  spurts  of 
blood  from  his  left  arm,  and  with  a  smaller  number  of  such 
spurts  from  the  right,  upon  the  floor.  The  poor  woman 
seems  never  to  have  doubted  that  he  had  perished  by  his  own 
hand  ;  neither  did  the  nineteen  commissioners. 

The  English  representative.  Dr.  Dickson,  lived  to  be 
upwards  of  ninety  years  of  age  and  kept  a  keen  intelligence 
until  his  death,  twenty  years  after  that  of  Abdul  Aziz.  He 
told  me  shortly  after  the  post  mortem  examination  which 
he  made,  that  he  was  prevented  getting  to  the  palace  in 


THE  REVOLUTION  OF  1876  55 

time  to  see  the  body  with  the  other  commissioners,  but  he 
went  there  firmly  convinced  that  the  Sultan  had  been 
killed.  So  firmly  convinced  was  he  of  the  truth  of  his 
suspicion,  that  after  having  examined  the  body  for  marks 
of  violence  he  carefully  examined  it  for  signs  of  poison. 
He  went  away  with  the  conviction  that  the  case  was 
one  of  suicide  and  not  murder.  At  a  somewhat  later 
date  he  wrote  a  full  account  of  his  examination  to  the 
Lancet. 

I  may  as  well  get  rid  of  this  subject  by  mentioning  that  in 
1881,  when  Abdul  Hamid  had  ascended  the  throne,  the 
surviving  members  of  the  Ministry,  including  Midhat  Pasha, 
were  charged  with  the  murder  of  Abdul  Aziz.  A  carefully 
prepared  case  was  brought  before  the  Turkish  court  and  all 
persons  charged  were  found  guilty,  Midhat  and  others  being 
sentenced  to  death.  Nevertheless,  I  maintain  that  Abdul 
Aziz  died  by  his  own  hand.  I  am  aware  how  ingeniously  and 
unscrupulously  and  how  easily  in  Turkey  witnesses  can  be 
suborned  to  present  a  case  to  a  Turkish  court  which  will  be 
made  very  plausible,  and  believe  that  this  case  was  so 
presented.  By  the  efforts  of  the  Ambassadors,  the  death 
sentence  on  Midhat  was  commuted  into  banishment.  He 
was  sent  to  Arabia  and  murdered  there,  in  all  probability 
by  orders  of  Abdul  Hamid. 

Upon  the  death  of  Abdul  Aziz,  his  successor  Murad 
ascended  the  throne.  But  he  was  a  poor  creature  who  had 
never  been  permitted  to  take  any  part  in  Government,  and 
had  been  encouraged  in  the  licentiousness  of  a  Turkish 
palace.  He  was  a  heavy  drinker  and  the  change  in  his 
fortunes  from  being  virtually  a  prisoner  to  being  the 
occupant  of  the  throne  turned  his  head,  and  on  August  31, 
1876,  he  was  formally  deposed,  and  in  his  stead  Abdul  Hamid, 
his  brother  and  the  oldest  surviving  member  of  the  imperial 
family,  ascended  the  throne. 

Following  the  usual  practice  with  regard  to  heirs  to  the 
throne,  Abdul  Hamid  had  been  kept  strictly  under  sur- 
veillance during  the  time  of  Abdul  Medjid.  When  for  the 
first  time  on  record  Abdul  Medjid,  a  reigning  Sultan,  visited 


56         FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

England  in  1864,  he  took  with  him  his  two  sons,  Murad,  the 
Sultan  whom  we  have  seen  deposed  for  incompetence,  and 
Prince  Abdul  Hamid.  Highly  placed  Turks  told  many 
stories  of  the  lack  of  courage  in  England  on  the  part  of  Abdul 
Hamid,  but  the  only  one  worth  mentioning  here  is  of  his 
strong  determination  to  remain  in  England,  and  of  his 
attempt  to  be  accidentally  left  behind.  If,  as  is  suggested, 
this  was  from  fear  of  being  made  away  with,  it  would  hardly 
be  fair  to  attribute  his  conduct  to  cowardice.  The  tra- 
ditions of  the  Turkish  palace  during  the  last  three  centuries 
are  full  of  stories  of  intrigues,  mostly  by  mothers  in  the 
harem,  to  get  rid  of  nearer  claimants  to  the  throne  in  favour 
of  their  own  sons.  Following  this  same  practice,  though 
the  mention  of  it  is  chronologically  out  of  place,  it  may  be 
noted  that  Abdul  Hamid  himself  kept  his  two  brothers, 
the  deposed  Murad  and  Reshad  Effendi,  who  was  the  heir  to 
his  throne,  and,  as  I  write,  is  now  reigning  Sultan  under  the 
style  of  Mahomet  V.,  for  thirty  years  in  close  imprisonment. 
When  in  1909  Abdul  Hamid  was  deposed,  he  whined  for 
mercy  to  Essad  Pasha  and  Carasso,  the  delegates  chosen 
by  the  Turkish  Chamber  and  Senate  to  inform  him  of  the 
national  decision,  and  laid  great  emphasis  on  the  fact  that 
he  had  not  killed  his  brother. 

Abdul  Hamid  ascended  the  throne  August  31,  1876. 
During  the  next  nine  months  he  was  feeling  his  way  to 
actual  power.  A  project  of  Constitution  which  was  drawn 
up  mainly  by  Midhat  Pasha  was  submitted  for  his  approval, 
and  whether  he  liked  it  or  not  he  had  to  consent  to  its 
promulgation.  Probably  that  which  influenced  him  to  give 
it  sanction  was  the  serious  political  difficulty  in  which  he 
found  himself.  His  mind  was  always  tricky.  There  had 
assembled,  December,  1876,  in  Constantinople,  the  Con- 
ference of  the  Representatives  of  the  Powers,  already  men- 
tioned, and  the  Sultan  well  knew  that  a  project  of  reforms 
was  to  be  submitted  which  would  lessen  the  Imperial 
Prerogative  and  diminish  his  reputation  in  the  eyes  of  his 
subjects.  The  problem  before  him  was  how  to  defeat  the 
plans  of  the  European  Delegates.     Rumours  of  what  he 


THE  REVOLUTION  OF  1876  57 

proposed  to  do  were  widespread  at  the  time.  Midhat,  who 
was  then  Grand  Vizier,  probably  saw  a  chance  of  obtaining 
the  grant  of  a  Constitution  by  playing  up  to  the  Sultan's 
desire  to  checkmate  the  Powers.  Accordingly  a  theatrical 
coup  was  played. 

The  Conference  met  in  the  Admiralty  Buildings  on  the 
Golden  Horn.  A  few  days  after  they  had  disclosed  their 
plans,  their  sittings  were  interrupted  by  the  booming  of  a 
hundred  guns,  fired  from  the  Turkish  ships  in  the  Golden 
Horn  and  the  Bosporus.  Thereupon  Sir  Henry  Elliot,  the 
British  Ambassador,  proposed  to  the  Delegates  that  they 
should  discontinue  their  sittings  because  those  guns  meant 
that  the  Sultan  had  issued  a  Constitution,  which  granted 
more  privileges  to  the  whole  of  the  Empire  than  those  which 
they  had  proposed  to  grant  only  to  Serbia,  Bulgaria,  and 
Montenegro,  the  disaffected  provinces.  Thereupon,  after 
a  httle  hesitation.  General  Ignatiev  expressed  his  opinion 
that  he  and  his  colleagues  were  there,  charged  with  a 
specific  mission  by  their  respective  Governments,  and  had 
nothing  to  do  with  any  proclamation  of  the  Sultan.  Lord 
Salisbury  supported  the  same  view,  and  the  sittings  of  the 
Conference  continued. 

The  most  important  article  in  Midhat's  Constitution 
provided  for  a  Chamber  of  Representatives  from  all  parts  of 
the  empire.  It  was  an  honest,  bold,  and  praiseworthy 
attempt  to  substitute  a  constitutional  form  of  Government 
for  absolutism.  Its  proclamation  failed  in  its  endeavour  to 
put  an  end  to  the  Conference,  but  it  was  welcomed  by  the 
more  thoughtful  of  the  subjects  of  the  Sultan  of  all  races. 
The  Chamber  met,  and  its  deliberations  filled  friends  of 
Turkey  with  hope  that  the  new  form  of  government  would 
put  an  end  to  the  great  abuses  in  Turkey  and  give  her  a  new 
chance  of  life.  Many  of  the  deputies  were  really  able  men 
desirous  and  hopeful  of  national  progress.  Of  course  there 
were  no  traditions  of  parliamentary  government,  and  many 
of  the  speeches  made  provoked  merriment,  but  the  general 
tone  was  serious  and  businesslike.  They  attacked  abuses 
and  the  Pashas  who  were  or^ought  to  have  been  responsible 


58         FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

for  them.     Their  earnestness  and  the  keen  sense  of  what  the 
country  needed  were  very  striking. 

The  existence  of  abuse  was  largely  a  revelation  to  the 
deputies  themselves.  The  member  for  Jerusalem  or  for 
Salonica,  or  other  distant  places,  spoke  as  if  he  believed  that 
the  district  from  whence  he  came  was  exceptional  in  the 
rankness  of  corruption.  The  discussions  shewed  us  out- 
siders, as  well  as  the  members  themselves,  that  the  Govern- 
ment from  one  end  of  the  country  to  the  other  required  the 
most  radical  reforms.  The  members  became  so  serious  that 
the  Pashas  became  alarmed,  and  I  remember  writing  to  the 
Daily  News  that  the  Chamber  would  shortly  get  rid  of  the 
offending  Pashas  or  the  Pashas  of  the  Chamber.  Its 
President  was  a  certain  Ahmed  Vefyk,  who  was  a  neighbour 
of  mine,  and  whom  I  knew  well.  He  had  been  Ambassador 
in  France,  a  favourite  of  Napoleon  III.,  and  considered 
himself,  as  he  was,  very  much  superior  in  education  and 
intelligence  to  the  mass  of  the  deputies.  But  as  Speaker 
he  was  amusingly  despotic.  From  the  presidential  chair  he 
constantly  stopped  members,  telling  them  that  they  knew 
nothing  at  all  of  what  they  were  talking  about.  Dr. 
Washburn  was  present  when  a  Saracli,  a  white-turbaned 
MoUah  who  was  prosing  along  in  somewhat  dismal  fashion, 
was  suddenly  brought  up  by  a  stentorian  shout  from  the 
Speaker  of,  "  Shut  up,  you  donkey  !  "  {Sus  eshek  !  ) 

Nevertheless,  in  spite  of  many  shortcomings  and  of 
ignorance  of  parliamentary  usage,  the  attempt  at  legislation 
was  an  honest  one.  It  was  brought  abruptly  to  an  end  by 
Abdul  Hamid,  who  gave  us,  perhaps  for  the  first  time,  a 
sample  of  how  he  wished  to  govern.  A  debate  had  taken 
place  one  day,  in  which  certain  charges  were  made  against 
two  Ministers  whom  the  Chamber  asked  to  be  brought  before 
it  to  give  explanations.  Next  morning  we  learnt  that  all 
the  deputies  had  been  packed  off  during  the  night  to  the 
places  they  represented.  No  more  was  heard  of  attempts  to 
govern  Turkey  constitutionally  until  1908. 

In  taking  leave  of  this  part  of  my  subject  I  must  say 


THE  REVOLUTION  OF  1876  59 

something  more  of  the  position  in  which  I  was  placed.  I 
have  mentioned  that  I  had  the  co-operation  of  Dr.  Wash- 
burn and  Dr.  Long,  the  first  a  model  of  clear-sightedness 
and  conscientiousness,  and  the  second  a  great  Bulgarian 
scholar  with  an  abundance  of  generous  zeal.  It  was,  how- 
ever, in  the  interest  of  Robert  College  that  their  names  as 
president  and  vice-president  should  not  be  associated  with 
the  sensation  aroused  in  England  by  my  letters  on  the 
Moslem  outrages  in  Bulgaria.  The  British  community  in 
Constantinople,  still  for  the  most  part  living  under  the 
glamour  of  the  Crimean  war,  were  fervent  supporters  of 
Turkey  and  still  more  violent  opponents  of  Russia.  I 
believed  that  for  several  months  I  stood  alone  in  the  attitude 
I  assumed  on  the  subject  of  Turkish  misrule.  I  was 
denounced  in  the  local  papers  as  an  enemy  of  Turkey,  but 
stood  my  ground.  Many  friends  assured  me  that  the 
Eastern  Christian  was  worthless  and  that  the  Turk  was  the 
only  man  in  the  country  who  counted,  and  that  my  personal 
interest  lay  in  cultivating  him.  Perhaps  it  did ;  but  if  I 
may  venture  to  say  so,  the  fact  that  I  stuck  to  my  convictions 
is  one  of  the  proudest  recollections  of  my  life.  But  as  the 
weeks  rolled  on  after  the  publication  of  my  early  letters,  a 
few  of  us  became  possessed  of  an  enthusiasm  for  the  cause 
of  Bulgaria  and  of  the  oppressed  Christian  races,  oppressed 
because  they  were  Christian,  and  of  an  intense  hostility 
towards  the  savage  method  of  suppressing  risings  which 
bound  us  together  in  a  lifelong  friendship. 

So  far  as  I  personally  was  concerned  it  required  the 
experience  which  I  had  gained  in  the  spring  of  1876  to  make 
me  realise  that  in  the  nineteenth  century  any  nation  claiming 
to  be  civilised,  as  Turkey  did,  could  be  guilty  of  such  useless 
and  heartless  cruelty.  I  had  not  then  seen  what  the 
calculated  sufferings  inflicted  by  German  troops  were  capable 
of.  The  Turkish  outburst  I  subsequently  learnt  was  part  of 
the  traditional  method  of  the  Turks  in  governing  subject 
races  during  peace  times  as  well  as  during  war.  I  knew  little 
at  first  of  Turkish  history,  but  my  attention  was  directed  to 
the  subject  and  I  have  since  learnt  that  the  Turks  have 


6o         FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

never  recognised  any  other  method  of  governing  a  subject 
population  except  by  savage  methods  of  repression.  But 
what  we  learnt  even  at  that  time  bound  a  few  of  us  together 
in  the  determination  to  improve  the  condition  of  the 
Christian  races  under  Turkish  rule,  and  to  that  resolution  I 
have  been  faithful. 

At  the  same  time  there  was  no  one  amongst  us  who  hated 
the  Turk  as  a  private  man.  We  all  recognised  that  he  had 
traits  of  kindliness,  simpUcity,  and  generosity  which  made 
him  lovable.  It  was  only  when  he  was  acting  as  one  in 
authority,  and  when  the  damnable  spirit  of  fanaticism  took 
possession  of  him,  that  he  became  a  savage  beast.  Even 
when  such  spirit  was  rampant  it  was  well  under  control  by 
the  Government.  The  massacres  took  place  in  Bulgaria 
as  they  did  subsequently  in  Armenia,  in  Thrace,  in  Cilicia, 
and  in  Aidin,  by  order.  Even  after  Mr.  Schuyler  and  Mr. 
Baring  had  issued  their  terrible  reports  confirming  the 
statements  which  I  had  made,  the  great  cry  among  the 
governing  classes  was  to  punish  all  who  had  given  infor- 
mation to  either  of  those  two  gentlemen  or  to  me,  or  who 
were  suspected  of  having  done  so. 

Ahmed  Vefyk  Effendi,  subsequently  Grand  Vizier,  whom 
I  knew  well  from  having  been  his  neighbour,  was  sent  to 
Adrianople  and  to  Philippopolis  to  punish  such  ofiPenders. 
He  began  by  hanging  many  Bulgarians.  He  seized  three  or 
four  of  the  leading  men  who  in  all  probability  had  given 
both  the  delegates  proofs  of  many  outrages.  We  learnt  that 
they  were  in  prison  and  made  representations  to  Mr.  May- 
nard,  the  American  Minister,  and  to  Sir  Henry  Elliot.  Both 
these  gentlemen  took  up  the  cases  of  the  suspected  men  and 
obtained  orders  that  they  should  not  be  hanged  until  further 
enquiry  was  made.  Mr.  Maynard,  a  typical  New  Englander 
in  appearance,  as  upright  in  character  as  he  was  in  person, 
had  taken  the  matter  up  very  warmly.  I  remember  that  in 
conversation,  alluding  to  the  idle  chatter  that  was  common 
in  reference  to  the  intrigues  of  Russia  and  the  interests  of 
England,  he  remarked,  "  This  is  a  question  of  right  and 


THE  REVOLUTION  OF  1876  61 

wrong.  No  interest  of  Great  Britain  nor  of  Russia  can  be 
served  by  the  killing  indiscriminately  of  men,  women,  and 
children."  To  him  the  question  was  one  to  be  considered 
from  the  standpoint  of  justice  and  injustice. 

In  Constantinople  the  talk  amongst  all  the  communities 
never  verged  on  such  a  question.  The  moral  plane  was  the 
lower  one  of  interest.  England  and  Russia,  it  was  every- 
where said,  would  act  in  accordance  with  their  interests. 
All  other  considerations  were  mere  sentiment.  Right  or 
wrong  meant  interest  or  no  interest.  England  intended  to 
support  the  integrity  and  independence  of  the  Ottoman 
Empire.  She  would  allow  the  Turk  to  govern  in  his  own 
way.  No  question  of  humanity  could  ever  be  listened  to  by 
statesmen.  In  justice  to  Sir  Henry  Elliot  I  felt  sure  then,  as 
I  do  now,  that  he  was  sound  at  heart,  but  as  has  happened  on 
other  occasions  the  people  around  him  were  actuated  by  less 
worthy  sentiments.  Even  one  of  his  secretaries  was  foolish 
enough  to  write  that  he  had  found  out  some  of  the  sources  of 
my  information.  In  doing  so,  he  of  course  received  the 
answer  that  if  he  had  spent  his  time  in  learning  whether  my 
statements  were  true  he  would  have  been  better  employed. 

Meantime  we  few,  we  happy  few,  we  band  of  brothers, 
persevered  in  our  task,  saved  the  lives  of  many  individuals, 
got  the  facts  well  into  the  heads  of  the  British  public,  and 
then  when  Mr.  Gladstone  threw  the  weight  of  his  character 
and  influence  into  the  scale  we  felt  that  victory  was  certain, 
and  that  no  such  general  massacre  as  that  of  the  spring  of 
1876  would  be  again  likely  to  occur,  in  Europe  at  least.  A 
few  months  of  weary  waiting  and  of  cruel  war  and  then  we 
rejoiced  in  having  helped  to  set  Bulgaria  free. 


CHAPTER   VI 

ARCH^OLOGICAL  INTERESTS  AND  LADY   ELLEN  BOROUGH 

Dr.  Paspates  and  Dr.  Schliemann — ^My  First  Visit  to  the 
Patriarchal  Church — An  Impressive  Ceremony — The 
Greek  Tradition — The  Site  of  Troy — Interesting  Dis- 
coveries— Visits  to  Nicaea — A  Visit  to  Damascus — I 
Meet  the  Sheik's  Wife — ^A  Remarkable  Woman — ^A 
Queen  of  the  Desert — Life  in  the  Harem — ^An  Arab 
Invasion — ^The  Bedouins'  Devotion. 

MY  first  notable  visit  to  the  Patriarchal  Church  in 
Constantinople  was  either  in  1875  or  1876.  It 
was  notable,  first,  because  I  was  accompanied 
by  the  most  distinguished  archaeologist  in  Constantinople, 
Dr.  Paspates,  and  then  because  I  made  the  acquaintance  of 
Dr.  Schliemann,  the  first  explorer  of  Hissarlik,  the  generally 
accepted  site  of  Troy.  Paspates  was  a  Greek,  who  as  a 
young  man  had  been  sent  to  Harvard  University.  The  story 
of  his  mother  was  romantic.  Like  most  Greek  women,  she 
had  a  great  profusion  of  dark-coloiured  hair.  At  the 
massacre  of  Chios  she  was,  I  believe,  under  five  and  twenty 
years  of  age,  good-looking  and  intelligent.  Though  her 
relations  were  killed,  she  was  captured  and  sold  as  a  slave 
into  a  Turkish  harem. 

When  she,  with  numbers  of  other  girls  and  women,  was 
captured,  she  hid  her  jewels  in  the  folds  of  her  hair,  so  that 
her  captors  were  unaware  of  their  existence.  She  had 
always  heard  that  the  English  merchants  of  Smyrna,  the 
nearest  important  town  to  the  island  of  Chios,  were  honour- 
able and  trustworthy,  and  she  wrote  to  one  of  them,  whom 
she  only  knew  by  name,  a  Mr.  Wood,  I  believe,  telling  her 
story,  urging  him  to  buy  her,  and  declaring  that  she  had  the 

62 


ARCHAEOLOGICAL  INTERESTS  63 

means  with  which  to  repay  him.  Wood  received  the  letter, 
went  cautiously  about  the  operation,  and  succeeded  in 
obtaining  her  release.  It  was  deUghtful  to  hear  her  son 
speak  of  the  gratitude  which  his  mother  felt  to  the 
generous  Englishman.  Such  generosity  was  not  confined  to 
Wood. 

To  the  eternal  honour  of  the  British  and  French  colonies 
in  1825,  when  the  massacre  took  place,  and  on  many 
subsequent  occasions  down  to  the  Armenian  massacres  of 
1895-98,  it  should  be  remembered  that  they  have  rarely 
let  an  opportimity  pass  of  attempting  to  redeem  slaves  and 
to  protect  the  victims  of  Turkish  tyranny  from  their  op- 
pressors. We  have  the  reputation  in  Turkey  which  we  have 
had  for  centuries,  of  not  only  being  truth-speaking  and 
honest,  but  of  being  the  protectors  of  the  desolate  and 
oppressed. 

The  service  was  an  exceptional  one,  and  is  peculiar  to  the 
Holy  Orthodox  Church.  It  was  on  Easter  eve,  and  a  similar 
service  is  held  in  all  orthodox  churches  in  Turkey,  in  every 
Balkan  state,  and  in  Russia.  I  witnessed  it  for  the  first  time 
on  the  occasion  referred  to.  I  have  seen  it  many  times 
since,  twice  at  Nicaea,  elsewhere  in  Turkey,  and  also  in  the 
Russian  church.  It  is  impressive  in  character  and  I 
have  often  wondered  why  some  of  our  clergy  who  are 
fond  of  dramatic  effect  in  their  churches  have  not  in- 
troduced it.  There  is  essential  unity  in  the  Easter 
services  in  all  the  orthodox  churches,  but  that  in  the 
Russian  is  more  orderly,  and  for  scenic  display  more 
effective.  The  striking  feature  is  at  midnight,  between 
Saturday  and  Sunday.  The  service  begins  about  eleven. 
The  church  is  in  comparative  darkness,  but  every  wor- 
shipper has  in  his  hand  an  unlighted  candle.  The  choir 
sings  a  number  of  doleful  hymns  suggesting  grief  at  the  death 
of  our  Lord,  the  congregation  remaining  silent.  The  com- 
munion table  is  hidden  from  the  nave  by  the  iconostasis. 
As  the  clock  strikes  twelve  the  Holy  Gates,  through  which 
none  but  priests  and  reigning  sovereigns  may  pass,  are 
thrown  open,  and  a  priest  comes  forward  declaring  in  a  loud 


64         FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

voice,  "  Christ  is  risen."  Others  reply,  "  He  is  risen 
indeed."  A  Ught  is  passed  from  the  bema,  the  chancel  or 
space  behind  the  iconostasis,  and  almost  instantly  every- 
body's candle  is  aflame.  The  congregation  has  passed  from 
darkness  into  light.  The  priest  kisses  the  most  distinguished 
man  present,  and  the  kiss  is  passed  round  to  the  others. 
The  women  follow,  each  one  giving  the  greeting,  "  Christ  is 
risen,"  and  taking  the  reply,  "  In  truth  He  has  risen."  The 
whole  ceremony  was  most  impressive. 

On  a  subsequent  occasion  Paspates  shewed  me  over  the 
Patriarchal  Church,  the  Patriarch's  residence  and  its 
adjuncts,  and  I  could  not  have  had  a  better  guide.  As  one 
enters  the  enclosure  from  the  street  a  large  closed  door 
stands  before  him.  That  door  has  never  been  opened  since 
the  stormy  times  which  followed  the  massacre  of  Chios, 
because  in  the  doorway  the  Patriarch  of  the  Orthodox  Church 
was  brutally  hanged.  Those  who  are  interested  in  the 
details  of  the  story  will  find  it  well  set  out  in  Dr.  Walsh's 
Two  Years  in  Constantinople.  The  writer  was  chaplain  to 
the  Embassy,  and  he  relates  how  on  Easter  Sunday,  which 
in  that  year  fell  on  the  same  day  as  our  Easter  (as  it  does 
about  once  in  four  years,  the  days  coinciding  in  1915) ,  he 
had  just  finished  his  festal  service  in  the  Embassy  chapel 
when  he  heard  the  terrible  news.  The  great  and  rather  ugly 
Church  of  the  Patriarch  had  been  crowded  with  worshippers, 
as  it  always  is  on  Easter  morning.  The  Patriarch  in  his  full 
robes  was  concluding,  when  a  band  of  Turkish  soldiers 
rushed  in  and,  in  spite  of  the  resistance  of  a  few  among  the 
terrified  congregation,  dragged  him  from  the  throne  of 
Saint  John  Chrysostom  through  the  church  into  the  outer 
court  and  hanged  him  in  all  his  robes  in  the  doorway  leading 
into  the  Patriarchate.  Afterwards  his  body  was  cut  down, 
dragged  through  the  streets  by  a  Moslem  and  Jewish  mob, 
and  thrown  into  the  neighbouring  Golden  Horn,  whence  it 
was  subsequently  picked  up  by  a  Russian  ship  and  carried 
off  to  Odessa,  where  it  now  Ues. 

The  Greek  population  of  the  capital  still  guard  the 
tradition  of  the  terrible  times  which  their  ancestry  passed 


ARCH^OLOGICAL   INTERESTS  65 

through.  A  friend  of  my  wife  is  proud  to  recount  how  she  is 
the  granddaughter  of  one  of  the  hostages  who  had  been 
chosen  by  the  prosperous,  highly-cultured  population  of 
Chios  to  be  held  in  Constantinople  for  the  good  behaviour 
of  the  people  of  the  island  ;  how  he  and  his  companion 
hostages  were  all  hanged.  Of  course  their  descendants 
glory  in  having  ancestors  who  were  thus  hanged.  Of  course 
also  it  is  ridiculous  and  against  all  evidence  and  reasonable 
expectation  to  suppose  that  such  descendants  entertain 
loyal  feeling  towards  the  Turkish  Government,  and  when, 
therefore,  before  the  Turco-Russian  war,  our  Ambassador 
(I  am  quite  sure  in  good  faith)  declared  that  he  was  astonished 
at  the  loyalty  of  the  Greek  population,  it  is  simply  one 
proof  the  more  of  the  lamentable  ignorance  of  the  real 
feelings  of  the  people  in  which  our  diplomatic  system  leaves 
even  our  Ambassadors  to  remain. 

In  writing  my  first  serious  contribution  to  the  history  of 
the  Greek  empire,  called  The  Fall  of  Constantinople,  being 
the  Story  of  the  Fourth  Crusade,  I  received  valuable  sug- 
gestions from  Paspates,  and  as  I  shall  probably  have  no 
further  need  to  refer  to  this  volume,  I  may  be  permitted  to 
mention  that  it  has  been  for  several  years  past  the  approved 
text-book  on  the  subject  in  the  University  of  Berlin,  and  the 
further  fact  that,  in  a  series  of  lectures  on  the  Crusades 
deUvered  in  Rome  in  the  spring  of  1914  by  a  celebrated 
French  historian,  one  of  his  auditors  reported  that  when  he 
came  to  the  Fourth  Crusade  he  declared  that  there  was  only 
one  book  on  the  subject  to  which  he  would  refer  them.  It 
was  written  "  par  im  certain  Monsieur  Edwin  Pears,"  and 
though  he  evidently  did  not  belong  to  the  Catholic  Church, 
it  was  at  once  complete  and  singularly  impartial. 

Dr.  Schliemann,  my  other  companion,  deserves  great 
credit  for  his  work  at  Hissarlik.  My  old  friend  Mr.  Calvert, 
who  has  long  since  joined  the  majority,  was  the  first  to  take 
up  the  position  that  the  great  mound  called  Hissarlik  was  the 
site  of  ancient  Troy.  Up  to  that  time  another  site,  known 
as  Bumabashi,  situated  higher  up  the  little  stream  of 
Scamander,  now  Mendere,  had  been  so  regarded.     Its  ruins 

F 


66         FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

are  much  more  extensive  than  those  of  HissarUk,  but  hitherto 
have  yielded  poor  results  to  diggers.  Dr.  Schliemann  was 
convinced  by  the  arguments  of  Mr.  Calvert,  and  having 
become  a  great  enthusiast  in  Homer  and  ancient  Greek 
literature,  expended  his  wealth  royally  in  making  ex- 
cavations. The  museums  at  Constantinople  and  at  Athens 
shew  abundant  specimens  of  the  treasures  he  found  there, 
treasures  indeed  which  are  so  numerous,  especially  of  gold 
ornaments,  as  to  lead  some  to  suspect  that  they  had  been 
found  and  purchased  elsewhere.  I  do  not  share  this  sus- 
picion. It  is  true  that  in  many  parts  of  Asia  Minor  to  this 
day  similar  ornaments  are  found  or  are  made,  but  the 
conservatism  that  exists  in  reference  to  manufacture,  and 
especially  in  the  East,  is  a  sufficient  answer  to  the  suggestion 
that  because  these  ancient  objects  resemble  in  structure 
modern  ones,  they  are  therefore  not  authentic. 

I  regret  that  I  was  not  able  to  visit  Hissarlik  with  Schlie- 
mann. I  have  subsequently  visited  it  on  two  different 
occasions.  The  first  time  I  landed  at  Neochorion,  to  the 
north  of  Besika  Bay,  and  walked  across  the  great  valley, 
even  yet  largely  marsh,  of  the  Mendere.  Mr.  Calvert  met 
us  at  Hissarlik  and  shewed  us  over  the  ruins.  On  my 
second  visit,  some  years  later,  I  went  from  Constantinople  to 
Kum  Kali  at  the  extreme  end  of  the  southern  side  of  the 
Dardanelles,  and  there  met  a  party  which  had  come  up 
from  Athens  under  the  guidance  of  Dr.  Dorpfeld.  We 
walked  from  Kum  Kali  to  Hissarlik,  Dorpfeld  lecturing  by 
the  way  at  various  points  and  within  the  moimd  itself  during 
three  hours. 

In  1880 1  paid  my  first  visit  to  Nicaea.  I  was  accompanied 
by  my  old  friend  Mr.  George  C.  Pearson,  then  the  Director 
of  the  Hyder  Pasha-Ismidt  Railway,  by  Hamdi  Bey,  and  his 
cousin  Tewfik  Bey,  a  Turkish  civil  engineer.  As  brigands 
were  known  to  be  out  in  the  neighbourhood  one  of  our  party 
got  into  touch  with  the  chief  and  arranged  to  pay  him  a 
small  sum  to  prevent  our  being  attacked  and  held  to  ransom. 
The  Circassian  chief  was  quite  ready  to  make  terms,  and  at  a 


ARCHAEOLOGICAL  INTERESTS  67 

reasonable  rate,  which  took  the  form  of  pajnnent  for  an 
armed  Circassian  guard.  At  that  time  the  railway  did  not 
extend  beyond  Ismidt,  which  is  forty  miles  from  Con- 
stantinople. We  therefore  arranged  to  have  horses  sent  to 
a  village  called  Yumur  Talik,  on  the  south  side  of  the  Gulf 
of  Ismidt,  crossed  the  gulf  in  a  caique  and  spent  the  night  in 
a  Turkish  house. 

Next  day  we  crossed  over  the  ridge  of  hills  between  the 
Gulf  of  Ismidt  and  Lake  Ascanius,  and  after  a  twelve  hours' 
ride  on  horseback,  always  accompanied  by  our  Circassian 
guard  with  his  rifle,  arrived  at  Nicaea.  There  was  no  hotel, 
but  the  Greek  priest  gave  us  accommodation.  We  arrived 
on  the  eve  of  the  Greek  Easter,  and  I  sat  up  to  see  the 
ceremony,  which  commences  about  eleven  o'clock.  I 
have  already  described  it  as  I  have  seen  it  both  in  the 
Patriarchal  and  in  the  Russian  Church.  According  to  the 
Patriarchal  "  use,"  the  reading  of  the  Gospel  takes  place  in 
the  open  air,  from  a  platform  erected  for  the  purpose.  As 
soon  as  the  announcement  that  "  Christ  is  risen  "  is  made, 
there  is  a  large  discharge  of  firearms,  and  everybody  lights 
his  candle.  I  mention  this  especially  because  I  remarked  at 
once  the  terribly  fever-stricken  aspect  of  the  whole  of  the 
congregation.  I  saw  everyone  present  from  my  bedroom 
window,  which  overlooked  the  platform  round  which  the 
congregation  was  gathered. 

We  found  next  day,  amongst  the  small  population 
inhabiting  not  more  than  one  hundred  and  twenty  huts,  an 
old  Italian  from  Sicily,  whom  we  concluded  to  be  a  refugee 
from  vendetta.  He  claimed  to  be  and  practised  as  a  doctor 
of  medicine,  and  expressed  his  belief  that  there  were  not  ten 
persons  among  the  population  who  were  not  suffering  badly 
from  malarial  fever. 

Two  incidents  occurred  which  left  an  impression  on  my 
mind.  On  the  evening  of  our  arrival  our  servants,  both  of 
them  Moslems,  laid  the  dinner  table.  We  had  taken  with  us 
table-cloths,  knives  and  forks,  crockery,  and  everything  we 
wanted  except  water  and  vegetable  food.  On  the  table  wa 
a  bottle  of  cognac  and  a  small  supply  of  light  French  wine 


68  FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 
Hamdi  Bey  was  known  as  the  son  of  Edhem  Pasha,  who  had 
recently  been  Grand  Vizier.  Accordingly,  after  the  custom 
of  the  country,  the  notables  of  the  place  dropped  in  to  pay 
their  respects  to  the  new-comers.  One  man  who,  dressed 
in  another  costume,  would  have  passed  for  a  country  rector, 
was  the  village  mollah. 

My  friend  Pearson,  who  took  charge  of  our  small  com- 
missariat, asked  Hamdi  in  French,  which  none  of  the  visitors 
understood,  whether  he  should  offer  wine  or  cognac  or 
anything  else  to  this  visitor.  Hamdi  replied,  "  I  can't  do  it, 
but  you  must."  Whereupon  Pearson  simply  pointed  to  one 
bottle  and  said  in  the  little  Turkish  he  knew,  "  This  is  wine," 
to  the  other,  "  This  is  cognac,"  and  with  the  usual  burun 
effendi  invited  him  to  partake  of  something.  The  man 
inspected  the  two  carefully,  then  took  rather  more  than  two- 
thirds  of  a  tumbler  of  cognac  and,  without  adding  any  water, 
drank  the  whole  lot  off  without  a  squirm.  We  remarked  to 
each  other,  with  the  consciousness  that  we  should  not  be 
understood,  that  there  was  not  one  amongst  us  who  could 
have  done  anything  of  the  kind.  I  do  not  believe  that  the 
Turks  of  any  class  are  heavy  drinkers,  though  I  have  often 
heard  of  their  being  able  to  take  a  great  quantity  of  alcohol 
without  its  having  apparently  any  ill  effect. 

Those  in  the  country  who  do  not  care  for  the  light  native 
wines  which  as  a  rule  are  not  appetising,  usually  take  to 
drinking  what  is  called  mastic,  and  so  far  as  my  experience 
goes  the  consumption  of  this  liquor  is  pretty  general.  It  is 
an  ether  rather  than  an  alcohol,  but  the  ether  contains  gum 
mastic  in  solution.  When  it  is  poured  out  it  is  as  clear 
as  water.    When  water  is  added  it  becomes  milky. 

The  other  incident  occurred  on  Easter  morning.  We 
four  travellers  were  at  breakfast  and  waited  on  by  the 
priest's  wife  or  daughter.  I  was  downstairs  first  and 
seated  at  the  table  when  she  entered  the  room.  I  gave  her 
the  Easter  salutation.  She  returned  it  in  astonishment 
and  glee,  and  asked,  "  Are  you  a  Christian  ?  "  Seeing  me 
travelling  with  two  Turks  and  Turkish  servants  she  had 
concluded  that  I  was  Moslem.    Her  delight  on  learning  that 


ARCHAEOLOGICAL  INTERESTS  69 

we  had  a  common  creed  was  great,  and  she  immediately 
rushed  off  and  fetched  four  Easter  cakes.  I  thanked  her 
very  sincerely  and  said  that  I  would  keep  them  until  I  went 
out.  My  friends  came  in,  we  had  our  coffee  and  went  for  a 
ride  round  the  ancient  city,  and  I  am  bound  to  admit  that  I 
deposited  the  cakes  in  a  place  where  the  dogs  would  make 
short  work  of  them.  They  were  not  inviting.  Above  all 
things,  they  did  not  look  clean. 

The  Sicilian  doctor  was  an  interesting  old  fellow.  He 
knew  the  names  of  every  European  who  had  visited  the  city 
for  a  quarter  of  a  century  before,  and  had  obtained  from  each 
of  them  either  their  signature  or  their  visiting  card 
Amongst  them  I  was  glad  to  recognise  that  of  Arthur  P. 
Stanley,  who  had  accompanied  the  then  Prince  of  Wales  on 
his  Eastern  travels.  The  walls  and  ancient  gates  of 
Nicaea  are  still  in  fairly  good  preservation.  The  gates  are 
picturesque  objects.  The  most  important  ruin  within  the 
walls  is  the  theatre.  We  have  an  interesting  account  of  its 
being  built  given  by  Pliny  the  Younger.  His  notices  of  the 
early  Christians  in  Nicaea  and  its  neighbourhood,  all  within 
his  jurisdiction,  are  especially  interesting.  As  to  the  theatre, 
he  seems  to  have  thought  that  he  would  have  to  pay  a 
large  proportion  of  its  cost  out  of  his  own  pocket.  As 
Nicaea  is  on  a  plain,  the  architect  had  to  provide  for 
obtaining  a  slope  for  the  auditorium.  In  Athens,  in 
Ephesus,  at  Hierapolis,  at  Laodacia  and  in  other  places, 
the  builders  of  theatres  took  advantage  of  the  slope  of  the 
ground  in  order  to  provide  for  spectators.  In  Nicaea  they 
built  a  series  of,  I  think  seven,  arches  radiating  from  the 
stage  and  gradually  increasing  in  height  as  they  receded  from 
it.  Upon  the  raised  surface  so  obtained  the  necessary  number 
of  seats  was  placed.  The  material  is  limestone,?'put  together 
without  mortar  and  beautifully  fitted.  No  remains  of  the 
great  Council  Chamber  which  existed  in  the  time  of  Con- 
stantine  are  now  to  be  seen.  It  is  known  to  have  been 
upon  the  shore  of  the  lake,  but  a  portion  of  the  walls  have 
been  undermined  or  have  fallen  into  the  lake,  and  there  is 
very  little  to  indicate  where  the  famous  council  sat 


70         FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

There  are  the  ruins  of  what  has  been  a  beautiful  church 
dedicated  to  the  Divine  Wisdom,  Hagia  Sophia.  In  this 
church  it  is  probable  enough  that  the  Second  Council  of 
Nicaea,  held  in  797,  met.  It  had  been  called  by  the  Empress 
Irene.  Its  first  meetings  were  in  Constantinople,  but  the 
citizens  were  mostly  Iconoclasts,  while  Irene  was  fanatically 
Hellenistic  and  Iconodoul — a  fit  representative  of  the  race 
which  had  changed  its  gods  into  saints  and  wished  to  do 
honour  to  them,  whether  represented  in  sculpture  or  in 
painting.  The  only  church  which  is  now  used  by  the  Greek 
inhabitants  of  the  city  is  probably  not  earlier  than  the 
thirteenth  century.  To  me  the  great  object  of  interest  in  it 
is  a  picture  which  is  mentioned  by  Dean  Stanley.  It 
represents  the  meeting  of  the  First  Council  in  325,  shews 
Arius,  Athanasius,  and  many  of  the  leading  Bishops  with  so 
considerable  an  amount  of  detail  that  the  Dean  suggested, 
remembering  the  Byzantine  habit  of  copying  pictures  almost 
as  carefully  as  Chinese  artists  are  represented  as  doing,  that 
the  picture  may  be  a  careful  reproduction,  once,  twice,  or 
three  times  renewed,  of  a  contemporary  at  the  time  of  the 
Council  itself. 

When  I  first  saw  it  on  the  occasion  of  this  visit,  I  felt  that 
it  ought  to  be  copied,  or  at  least  carefully  preserved.  It  was 
then  in  the  church.  Some  ten  years  afterwards  I  paid  my 
second  visit  to  Nicaea,  accompanied  by  the  late  Mr.  Theo- 
dore Bent  and  his  wife,  who  still  happily  survives,  and 
by  my  old  friend  Dr.  Long.  Three  of  the  party  had 
cameras,  and  with  some  difficulty  we  persuaded  the  priest  to 
allow  us  to  take  the  picture,  which  is  about  eight  feet  high, 
outside  the  church,  in  order  that  we  might  have  abundance 
of  Hght  for  photographs  of  it.  All  the  pictures  turned  out 
failures. 

Subsequently  two  friends  of  mine  visited  Nicaea  and  felt 
confident  that  they  could  accomplish  it.  They  also  failed. 
Some  years  afterwards,  meeting  Sir  Benjamin  Stone  at 
dinner  with  Sir  Edwin  Egerton,  our  then  Minister  in  Athens, 
and  having  become  acquainted  with  the  beautiful  work  in 
photography  which  he  had  produced,  I  urged  him  to  come  to 


ARCH^OLOGICAL  INTERESTS  71 

Constantinople  and  thence  to  go  to  Nicaea,  in  order  that  he 
might  get  a  good  reproduction  of  the  picture  in  question. 
We  had  the  pleasure  of  receiving  him  in  Pera  some  three 
years  afterwards,  and  he  felt  sure  that,  notwithstanding 
the  picture  was  a  mass  of  browns,  he  could  overcome  the 
difficulty.  He  produced  some  lovely  photographs  of  the 
gates  and  other  objects  in  Nicaea,  but  unfortunately  he 
failed  absolutely  in  doing  anything  with  the  picture.  On 
my  third  visit  to  Nicaea,  accompanied  by  Miss  Dodd  of  the 
American  College,  then  at  Scutari,  who  is  a  clever  photo- 
grapher, by  my  daughter  and  a  lady  who  is  now  Mrs.  Hugh 
Poynter,  other  attempts  were  made  to  reproduce  it.  All, 
however,  were  failures. 

In  the  late  autumn  of  1876  I  paid  a  visit  to  Damascus. 
The  visit  itself  was  for  professional  purposes,  which  would 
not  interest  my  readers.  As  soon  as  I  knew  that  I  was 
going  there  I  determined,  if  possible,  to  make  the  acquaint- 
ance of  an  elderly  lady  who  had  had  a  remarkable  experience 
She  had  been  the  wife  of  Lord  Ellenborough.  She  was  also 
the  granddaughter  of  "  Coke  of  Norfolk."  Her  beauty  was 
as  remarkable  as  her  accomplishments  and  charm.  At  her 
coming-out  ball  she  caught  the  eye  of  the  bon  viveur  Lord 
Ellenborough,  whom  she  married  when  not  yet  seventeen. 
In  1830  she  was  divorced  and  subsequently  is  credited  with 
having  had  varied  careers  with  husbands. 

I  had  heard  her  history  before  leaving  England  from  Mr. 
Karl  Haag,  the  well-known  painter.  He  had  gone  on  a 
sketching  expedition  into  the  Syrian  desert,  and  had  been 
accompanied  by  the  lady  in  question,  now  fifty  years  of 
age,  who  also  possessed  very  considerable  talent  in  water- 
colours.  The  Uttle  expedition  was  under  the  protection  of  a 
Sheik,  Abdul  Mejuel,  a  bright,  clear-eyed  Arab,  having  a 
tribe  of  from  two  hundred  and  fifty  to  three  hundred 
Bedouins  under  him. 

The  expedition  was  a  success,  Karl  Haag  obtained  the 
sketches  he  desired,  and  the  Sheik  and  the  lady  fell  in  love 
with  each  other  and  married.    To  Europeans  she  was  known 


72  FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 
as  the  Honourable  Mrs.  Digby.  She  was,  I  imagine,  thirty 
years  older  than  he.  He  was  devoted  to  her  service  and  the 
two  got  on  very  well  together.  I  was  told  that  no  European 
woman  knew  more  of  harem  life  than  did  she.  Her  husband's 
Bedouins  were  devoted  to  her,  and  she  exercised  remark- 
able influence  over  her  husband  and  his  men.  The  diffi- 
culty which  I  anticipated  was  in  getting  to  see  her.  Happily 
I  was  well  acquainted  with  the  director  of  a  bank  who 
had  to  go  twice  a  year  from  Beyrout  to  Damascus  to  pay 
her  her  private  income  of,  I  believe,  ;^3,ooo  a  year.  On 
my  informing  my  friend  that  I  wished  very  much  to  see  her, 
he  told  me  that  she  had  refused  during  two  or  three  years 
to  see  any  European,  and  that  she  had  even  ceased  going  to 
the  English  Church  service  which  had  been  conducted  in 
the  British  Consulate  at  Damascus  by  a  missionary.  But 
my  friend  promised  that  he  would  do  his  best  to  overcome 
for  me  her  repugnance  to  seeing  Europeans. 

Accordingly,  the  day  after  our  arrival,  we  called  at  her 
house,  which  was  in  the  suburbs  of  the  city.  He  sent  in  his 
name.  We  were  shewn  into  a  long  sala  or  drawing-room. 
A  few  minutes  afterwards  I  saw  a  tall  woman  enter,  who  at 
once  gave  me  the  impression  of  having  been  strikingly 
handsome ;  but  a  black  cloud  was  over  her  when  she  saw  that 
my  companion,  who  had  come  to  pay  her  the  money,  had 
with  him  a  stranger.  I  subsequently  learned  that  she  was 
then  in  her  seventieth  year.  My  friend  explained  that  it 
was  the  first  time  I  had  been  in  Damascus,  and  that  he  could 
not  leave  me  in  the  street,  but  that  with  her  permission  I 
might  go  to  the  other  end  of  the  sala  while  the  money  due  to 
her  was  counted,  accounts  made  up,  and  the  proper  receipts 
signed.  The  lady  assented  but  evidently  resented  the 
intrusion,  I  offered  to  leave  the  house,  but  she  intimated 
that  if  I  would  adopt  the  course  suggested  that  would  be 
sufficient. 

While  business  was  being  transacted  between  them  I 
examined  several  paintings  which  were  upon  the  wall,  and 
at  once  recognised  two  from  the  hand  of  Karl  Haag.  As  my 
form  of  recreation  has  long  been  painting  in  water-colour,  I 


JANE    DIGBY,    LADY   ELI.ENBOROUGH 

Reproduced  from  a  photograph  of  the  picture  in  the  Royal  Gallery,  Munich, 

in  the  possession  of  Beatrice,  Lady  Ellenhorough 


ARCHAEOLOGICAL  INTERESTS  73 

passed  a  quarter  of  an  hour  very  pleasantly  in  looking  at  the 
pictures.  Business  being  done,  I  think  it  probably  occurred 
to  the  lady  that  she  could  hardly  be  rude  to  an  Englishman 
in  her  own  house.  She  came  to  my  end  of  the  sala,  and  after 
making  some  banal  remarks,  the  object  of  which  was  to 
remove  any  idea  of  discourtesy,  I  replied  by  speaking  of  my 
enjoyment  of  the  pictures  and  specially  called  attention  to 
one  where  the  painter  had  caught  the  atmosphere  of  the 
desert.  She  was  interested  in  my  criticisms,  and  recognising 
that  I  knew  something  of  the  subject,  informed  me  that  the 
picture  in  question  was  painted  by  her.  That  broke  the  ice. 
We  got  into  an  interesting  conversation,  which  ended  by  her 
stating  that  she  would  have  tea  on  the  table  every  day  at 
five  o'clock,  and  would  be  very  pleased  to  see  me  any  and 
every  day  during  the  week  I  proposed  to  remain  in  Damas- 
cus. She  then  sent  for  her  husband  and  introduced  us.  We 
became  excellent  friends,  and  by  his  means  I  was  able 
to  get  into  various  mosques  and  see  other  sights  which  I 
should  not  have  seen  but  for  his  assistance. 

I  availed  myself  on  three  or  four  occasions  of  her  invitation, 
and  found  her  a  close  observer,  an  excellent  talker,  with 
keen  flashes  of  insight  and  wit,  and,  what  interested  me  most 
of  all,  with  an  experience  of  harem  life  of  which  she  spoke 
frankly,  of  quite  exceptional  character.  I  was  especially 
struck  with  an  observation  which  she  made  in  different 
forms  on  two  or  three  occasions.  The  women  of  the  harem, 
said  she,  had  about  them  the  delightfulness  of  children. 
Their  enjoyments  were  simple  but  genuine.  Their  passion- 
ate love  of  flowers  constantly  appealed  to  her,  but  there  was 
another  side  to  their  character.  There  was  the  childishness 
of  children  which  became  imbecility  when  found  amongst 
women.  They  had  sudden  outbursts  of  anger,  swift  recon- 
ciliation, passionate  affection,  and  even  hate.  The  worst 
side  of  their  character  related  to  their  sensuality.  They 
had  no  pleasures  corresponding  to  those  found  in  European 
society,  no  music,  no  literature,  no  social  intercourse  with 
men.  The  result  was  that  even  amongst  the  most  respect- 
able classes  there  was  a  gross  sensuality,  which  shewed 


74         FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

itself  in  the  language  which  well-dressed  harem  ladies 
would  employ.  Subjects  were  spoken  of  even  in  presence 
of  children  about  which  all  Christian  races  agree  to  be  silent. 
^  She  told  me  many  stories  of  her  Eastern  experience.  On 
one  occasion,  by  a  mistake,  the  whole  of  her  husband's  tribe 
flocked  into  Damascus  and  took  possession  of  her  house, 
sleeping  on  the  stairs,  the  landings,  and  anywhere  they  could 
lie  down.  She  was  the  only  woman  in  the  house,  and  could 
not  get  into  communication  with  her  husband.  I  made 
some  remark  which  I  forget,  intimating  that  she  must  have 
been  alarmed  with  the  crowd  of  these  wild  fellows.  She 
immediately  retorted  that  she  was  greatly  alarmed,  but  not, 
as  I  appeared  to  think,  at  anything  which  her  husband's 
tribe  would  do.  Her  fear  was  that  some  of  the  many 
Turkish  soldiers  near  her  house  would  make  some  remark 
derogatory  to  her,  in  which  case,  she  said,  not  a  Turk  in  the 
neighbourhood  would  have  been  left  alive.  On  mentioning 
this  story  to  my  friend,  he  said  that  he  entirely  believed  it, 
because  the  attachment  of  the  Bedouins  to  their  chieftain's 
wife  was  passionate,  and  each  would  have  been  ready  to  die 
for  her.  She  was  the  only  woman  whom  the  Arabs  would 
permit  to  ride  upon  a  horse. 

She  had  come  to  exercise  an  influence  over  them  corre- 
sponding to  that  which  a  better-known  lady  of  distinction  in 
the  East  has  exercised,  namely,  Lady  Hester  Stanhope. 

At  the  end  of  a  week  I  left  Damascus,  with  hearty  good 
wishes  both  from  the  Sheik  ul  Mejuel  and  his  wife.  She  died 
five  years  afterwards,  in  1881.  I  gained  the  impression  that 
under  different  circumstances  she  might  have  exerted  a 
most  valuable  influence  in  any  society  into  which  she  had 
been  thrown. 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE  EGYPTIAN  QUESTION 

The  Arrival  of  Sir  Henry  Layard — Russophobia — 
Ideals  About  the  Turk — ^A  Scheme  of  Reform — Sir 
Henry  Disillusioned — Gladstone's  Greek  Letter — ^A 
Scandal — ^The  Khedive's  Extravagance — Egypt's 
Finances — ^Dual  Control — ^The  Succession  Changed — 
The  Khedive  Deposed — ^Turkish  Alarm — Saving  the 
Sultan's  Face — Mr.  Goschen  Succeeds  Sir  Henry  Layard 
— Bismarck's  Rudeness — ^The  Sultan  Obdurate — Mr. 
Goschen's   Victory — ^The  Murder  of  Colonel  Cumaroff. 

IN  February,  1877,  Sir  Henry  Elliot  was  granted  leave  of 
absence  on  account  of  ill-health.  Shortly  afterwards 
he  was  appointed  Ambassador  in  Vienna.  In  Con- 
stantinople he  was  succeeded  by  Mr.  (afterwards  Sir  Henry) 
Austin  Layard,  who  was  promoted  from  Madrid.  His 
recommendation  to  Mr.  Disraeli  and  his  Government  was 
his  strong  friendliness  towards  Turkey.  As  I  have  already 
mentioned,  he  had  been  connected  with  Mr.  Urquhart  and 
the  little  knot  of  able  philo-Turks,  men  who  carried  their 
Russophobia  to  an  extreme  and,  as  it  appears  to  me,  quite 
unreasonable  degree.  One  of  them  boasted  to  me  that  he 
had  expended  £32,000  out  of  his  own  pocket  in  promoting 
an  insurrection  in  Circassia  against  the  Russians.  I  do  not 
suggest  that  Mr.  Layard  was  an  extremist  of  this  kind,  but 
while  he  was  attache  to  the  British  Embassy,  some  years 
earlier,  and  while  he  made  his  justly  renowned  discoveries  at 
Nineveh,  he  got  on  well  with  the  Turks,  and  maintained 
their  friendship. 

It  was  said  that  he  was   transferred  to  Constantinople 
at  his  own  request.     His  mission,  however,  did  not  prove 

73 


76         FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

a  success.  The  Turks  welcomed  him  because  they  were 
foolish  enough  to  suppose  that  he  would  support  them 
through  thick  and  thin.  He  himself  believed  that  he 
possessed  great  personal  influence  with  them.  I  saw  him  at 
least  once  a  week,  and  we  constantly  discussed  the  situation, 
I  taking  up  a  friendly  attitude  of  opposition  to  his  views. 
On  one  occasion,  I  remember,  he  finished  his  remarks  by 
saying,  "  At  least  you  must  admit  that  the  Turk  has  a  genius 
for  government."  My  answer  was,  "  That  is  the  one  thing 
for  which  especially  he  has  no  genius."  To  which  his  reply 
was,  "  You  are  incorrigible." 

Mr.  Disraeli's  Government  recognised  that  something 
must  be  done  to  amend  the  system  of  government  under 
which  the  Christians,  and  especially  the  Armenians,  suffered, 
and  accordingly  a  scheme  of  reforms  was  drawn  up  by  Sir 
Henry  Layard  and  submitted  to  the  Government.  It  was 
specially  concerned  with  Armenia.  At  such  time  Sir 
Henry  was  full  of  hope,  and  believed  that  the  Turk  would 
accept  anything  at  his  hands.  Weeks  passed,  point  after 
point  was  discussed,  modified  or  refused,  and  finally  the 
whole  proj ect  was  rej ected.  It  was  a  terrible  disappointment 
to  Sir  Henry.  At  last  something  was  prepared  which  was 
the  mere  simulacrum  of  what  had  been  originally  proposed. 
Sir  Henry  told  me  what  it  was,  expressed  his  disappointment 
at  the  stubbornness  of  the  Porte,  but  added,  "  If  I  can  get 
this  through  it  will  always  be  something  gained."  I  agreed 
with  him.  It  was  submitted  and  again  modified.  His 
failure  had  become  manifest. 

I  do  not  hesitate  to  say  that  in  the  first  weeks  of  my  visit 
I  found  him  so  strong  an  advocate  of  everything  Turkish 
that  I  was  constantly  opposed  to  his  views,  but  as  the 
weeks  drew  on  I  found  myself,  to  my  surprise,  defending 
the  Turks  against  his  charges.  An  incident  occurred 
during  his  ambassadorship  which  was  not  without  im- 
portance. A  Turkish  subject  of  Constantinople,  known 
to  me,  wrote  to  Mr.  Gladstone  in  Greek.  In  reply  he 
received  a  letter  from  Mr.  Gladstone,  also  in  Greek,  of  which 
the  latter  had  not  taken  a  copy.    Unfortunately  the  recipient 


THE  EGYPTIAN  QUESTION  77 

shewed  the  letter  to  the  correspondent  of  a  London  paper, 
who  gave  what  proved  to  be  an  incorrect  version.  The 
correspondent  could  not  read  Greek  written  characters,  and 
probably  this  may  account  for  the  blunder.  Sir  Henry 
reported  the  incident  in  England  from  the  correspondent's 
version,  and  a  violent  Press  attack  upon  Mr.  Gladstone 
followed.  He  denied  that  he  had  given  utterance  to  the 
sentiments  attributed  to  him,  and  Sir  Henry,  unfortunately 
for  himself,  practically  gave  him  the  he.  When  at  last  the 
letter  was  produced  and  examined,  it  was  seen  that  Sir 
Henry  was  wrong  and  Mr.  Gladstone  right. 

When  the  General  Election  took  place  in  England,  in 
April,  1880,  the  Liberal  Party  came  into  power,  and  an 
outcry  was  made  for  the  recall  of  Sir  Henry  Layard.  There 
had  then  been  published  a  dispatch  from  Sir  Henry  pointing 
out  that  the  Turks  would  not  consent  to  make  reforms  and 
had  refused  every  suggestion,  though  made  in  their  interests. 
The  dispatch  was  taken  by  English  public  opinion  to  be  a 
bid  for  popular  favour.  When  it  appeared  I  wrote  defending 
Sir  Henry  Layard,  stating  that  I  had  seen  the  change  come 
over  his  opinions  gradually,  and  that  he  had  been  driven  by 
the  force  of  facts  to  recognise  that  no  reforms  could  be 
extracted  from  the  then  Sultan  Abdul  Hamid.  I  think, 
however,  that  the  apparent  volte  face  which  the  Ambassador 
had  made  might  have  been  forgiven  in  view  of  his  changed 
opinions,  but  the  Liberal  Party  would  not  forgive  the 
imputation  of  falsehood  to  Mr.  Gladstone,  and  accordingly 
he  ceased  to  be  Ambassador  in  the  summer  of  1878. 

It  was  while  Sir  Henry  Layard  was  Ambassador  that 
Ismail,  the  reigning  Khedive  of  Egypt,  was  deposed. 
Ismail  had  the  typical  Eastern  monarch's  idea  of  the  rights 
of  a  sovereign.  The  principal  use  of  a  Minister  to  him  was 
to  furnish  an  unlimited  supply  of  money.  He  built  many 
palaces  and  had  a  large  and  unusually  expensive  harem.  Let 
it  be  said  in  passing  that  one  of  the  unsatisfactory  features 
of  a  harem  is  that  each  wife  feels  bound  to  obtain  as  much 
money  and  as  many  jewels  as  possible  to  provide  for  the 
time  when  her  lord  and  master  shall  "  put  her  away  "  or 


78         FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

enter  Paradise.     Polygamy  has  largely  decreased  in  Turkey 
and  Egypt  mainly  because  of  its  costliness. 

In  Egypt  the  holders  of  Egyptian  bonds,  most  of  which 
were  in  France  or  England,  were  alarmed  for  their  incomes 
at  the  extravagance  of  the  Khedive.  There  were  many 
other  complaints  against  Ismail,  forced  labour,  the  indis- 
criminate use  of  the  kurbash,  the  neglect  of  making  or 
keeping  roads  in  repair,  the  absolute  neglect  of  adminis- 
tration for  the  benefit  of  the  masses.  All  these  might  have 
been  tolerated ;  but  when  the  people  were  so  squeezed,  the 
bondholders  feared  for  their  dividends.  The  Khedive  was 
compelled  to  permit  the  exercise  of  a  dual  financial  control 
for  their  benefit,  under  representatives  of  France  and  of 
England.  These  controllers  worked  harmoniously,  but  they 
soon  recognised  that  the  deposition  of  the  great  spendthrift 
Ismail  was  necessary.  They  therefore,  with  the  consent  of 
their  respective  Governments,  arranged  a  plan  for  deposing 
him  and  substituting  his  son  Tewfik.  They  informed  his 
Vice-regal  Majesty  that  their  Governments  had  decided  that 
he  should  go.  If  he  went  quietly  they  would  allow  him  a 
pension  of  £15,000  a  year  and  certain  other  privileges, 
including  the  recognition  of  his  son  as  his  successor. 

As  to  such  recognition,  the  story  is  interesting.  By  law 
the  succession  to  the  Khedivial  throne  followed  the  same  rule 
as  that  to  the  Sultanate ;  that  is  to  say,  the  eldest  male 
surviving  descendant  of  the  original  grantee  should  be  the 
successor.  The  original  grantee  was  the  famous  Mehmet 
AU,  the  Albanian.  On  Ismail's  death  the  heir  to  the  throne 
would  have  been  HaUm  Pasha,  the  son  of  Mehmet  Ali  in 
his  old  age,  and  the  oldest  male  descendant.  This  arrange- 
ment Ismail,  with  the  natural  love  of  a  father  for  his  own 
sons,  determined  to  set  aside  by  obtaining  an  Imperial 
decree  or  firman  from  the  Sultan  changing  the  order  of 
succession  to  that  prevailing  in  most  European  countries. 
By  dint  of  heavy  expenditure,  amounting,  it  is  usually  said, 
to  upwards  of  three  milUons  sterUng  in  cash,  of  the  present 
of  a  beautiful  yacht  most  luxuriously  fitted  up,  he  succeeded 
in  his  object,  and  obtained  a  change  in  the  Ottoman  law  of 


THE  EGYPTIAN  QUESTION  79 

succession  to  the  Khedivial  throne.  The  great  inducement 
held  out  to  Ismail  to  abdicate  was  that  if  he  did  so,  his  son, 
by  virtue  of  this  change  of  law,  would  be  allowed  to  succeed 
instead  of  Prince  Halim  Pasha.  When  Ismail  recognised 
that  England  and  France  were  determined  to  get  rid  of  him, 
he  accepted  their  proposal.  Meantime,  however,  the  Sultan 
and  the  Porte  knew  nothing  of  what  was  being  done.  When 
the  news  of  the  intention  of  England  and  France  to  depose 
Ismail  arrived,  the  Sultan  was  in  great  alarm,  and  declared 
that  nothing  could  more  lessen  his  reputation  among  his  own 
subjects  than  that  such  a  change  should  be  made  without  his 
knowledge  or  consent.  But  time  was  pressing,  as  the  change 
was  imminent.  He  called  a  meeting  of  his  Ministers  at  the 
palace  and  discussed  the  matter  with  them  until  after 
midnight. 

A  case  was  subsequently  brought  into  the  Court  of  Queen's 
Bench  in  London  to  recover  a  large  sum  of  money,  in  refer- 
ence to  which  the  verdict  would  have  turned  on  the  question 
whether  a  firman  had  been  effectually  obtained  from  the 
Sultan  changing  the  order  of  succession.  It  was  on  this 
occasion  that  I  learned  exactly  what  happened  at  the 
palace.  The  problem  was,  how,  while  admitting  that  Ismail 
was  certain  to  be  deposed  on  the  following  day,  to  persuade 
the  Turkish  population  that  such  act  had  been  done  by  the 
Sultan.  After  midnight  Caratheodori  suggested  a  course 
which,  after  it  had  been  thoroughly  discussed,  was  recognised 
as  the  only  one  which  would  serve  the  purpose.  Caratheo- 
dori was  given  carte  blanche  to  telegraph  to  Paris  and 
Egypt  on  behalf  of  the  Sultan. 

Three  telegrams  were  sent  which  were  subsequently 
published  in  the  French  Yellow  Book.  In  the  one  addressed 
to  Munir  Pasha,  the  Turkish  Ambassador  in  France,  he  was 
informed  that  his  Majesty,  having  long  seen  the  misgovern- 
ment  of  Egypt  by  Ismail  and  his  extravagance,  had  decided 
to  depose  him  and  had  done  so.  Another  telegram  was  sent, 
also  in  the  name  of  the  Sultan,  to  Ismail  himself,  informing 
him  that  for  like  reasons  his  Majesty  had  no  further  need  for 
his  services,  but  that  out  of  ancient  affection  he  permitted 


8o         FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

his  son  to  take  his  place.  A  third  telegram  formally 
appointed  Tewfik,  his  eldest  son,  as  Khedive.  All  these 
telegrams  were  drawn  up  in  the  telegraph  office.  I  may 
add  that  when  the  English  Blue  Book  of  that  time  relating 
to  Egypt  came  out  there  appeared  a  dispatch  sent  to  Sir 
Henry  Layard  at  Constantinople,  which  referred  to  the 
telegram  that  had  been  received  in  Paris  and  remarked  that 
this  move  of  Abdul  Hamid  would  probably  facilitate  the 
operation  which  the  two  Governments  had  in  hard. 

Ismail  went  away  quietly  and  took  up  his  residence  with 
his  large  family  near  Naples.  The  deposition  of  one  ruler 
and  the  appointment  of  his  successor,  Tewfik,  took  place  in 
June,  1879.  I  am  not  aware  that  the  story  of  the  deposition 
has  ever  been  told  by  any  other  person  than  by  me.  It  is 
interesting  to  add  that  the  present  Grand  Vizier  of  Turkey, 
Prince  Said  Halim,  is  the  eldest  son  of  Halim,  who  but  for 
the  change  of  succession  would  have  beccwne  Khedive  on  the 
death  of  Ismail. 

The  last  time  I  saw  Sir  Henry  Layard  was  on  the  Quai  at 
Lucerne.  I  was  going  to  church  one  Sunday  morning  with  my 
two  children  when  to  my  surprise  we  encountered  Sir  Henry 
and  Lady  Layard,  who  were  also  going  to  church.  He  sug- 
gested that  my  children  should  accompany  Lady  Layard  and 
that  he  and  I  should  return  to  his  hotel  and  talk  about  the 
situation  in  Turkey.  He  mentioned  many  interesting  facts. 
Some  of  the  English  papers  had  been  foolish  enough  to 
suggest  that  he  was  taking  bribes  from  the  Sultan.  The 
suggestion  was,  of  course,  absurd.  On  one  occasion  when  he 
had  dined  at  the  palace  he  had  stated  that  he  could  not  get 
such  good  bread  as  was  set  before  him.  Thereupon  the 
Sultan  insisted  upon  sending  him  bread  daily,  and  a  number 
of  other  smaller  presents  of  little  or  no  value,  which  he  could 
not  refuse  without  giving  offence.  He  produced  a  watch 
which  the  Sultan  had  almost  forced  upon  him  which  he  did 
not  believe  was  worth  a  couple  of  pounds. 

Let  me  say  in  reference  to  Lady  Layard  that  she  acquired 
the  esteem  of  everybody  in  Constantinople  whose  goodwill 


SIR    HENRY   AUSTIN    I.AVARI) 


F.Uiott  &■  Fry,  Ltd. 


THE  EGYPTIAN  QUESTION  8i 

was  worth  having  ;  and  many  years  afterwards,  her  husband 
being  then  dead,  when  I  wanted  to  get  a  copy  of  the  famous 
portrait  of  Mahomet  the  Conqueror,  by  Gentili  BeUini,  the 
original  of  which  had  been  obtained  by  Sir  Henry,  she  had  it 
photographed  specially  for  me,  took  the  trouble  also  to  send 
me  from  Venice  her  husband's  presentation  copy  of  Vassari's 
Lives,  and  offered  to  furnish  any  information  in  her  power 
which  I  might  want. 

After  the  General  Election  in  the  United  Kingdom  of  1880, 
Sir  Henry  Layard  ceased  to  be  Ambassador  in  Constantinople. 
He  was  succeeded  by  Mr.  George  J.  Goschen,  who  went  on  a 
"special  mission"  to  Constantinople,  without  emolument, 
and,  with  the  consent  of  his  constituents,  retained  his  seat  in 
ParUament.  The  special  object  of  his  mission  was  to  compel 
Turkey  to  carry  out  certain  provisions  of  the  Treaty  of  Berlin 
which  she  had  hitherto  neglected  to  do. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  after  the  signature  of  the 
Treaty  of  San  Stefano,  England,  with  the  consent  of  others 
of  the  European  Powers,  insisted  upon  a  Congress  to  revise 
such  Treaty.  It  met  in  Berlin  and  a  Treaty  embodying  the 
results  of  its  labours  was  concluded  in  July,  1878.  Its  most 
distinguished  men  were  Mr.  Disraeli,  Lord  Salisbury,  and 
Prince  Bismarck.  It  made  many  important  additions  and 
modifications  to  the  Treaty  which  it  had  to  revise.  The 
most  important  was  to  cut  down  the  dimensions  of  Bulgaria 
and  to  provide  that  the  Principality  of  Bulgaria  should  only 
be  that  portion  of  territory  which  was  north  of  the  Balkans. 
The  country  to  its  south,  largely  diminished  in  extent  from 
the  boundaries  prescribed  in  the  San  Stefano  Treaty,  was 
to  be  called  Eastern  Rumelia  and  was  to  continue  to  be 
under  the  suzerainty  of  the  Sultan.  Its  Governor,  however, 
was  to  be  a  Christian,  named  by  the  sovereign  with  the  con- 
sent of  the  Great  Powers. 

We  can  all  recognise  now  that  it  was  a  foolish  arrangement, 
because  the  people  of  south  Bulgaria,  as  nearly  everybody 
chose  to  call  Eastern  Rumelia,  being  of  the  same  race, 
religion,  and  language  as  those  of  the  Principality,  would 

G 


82         FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

only  consent  to  be  separated  from  their  brethren  so  long  as 
they  were  prevented  by  actual  force.  Indeed,  this  op- 
position was  anticipated  by  the  Congress,  and  a  provision 
was  inserted  in  the  Treaty  allowing  Turkish  troops  to  be 
sent  by  the  Sultan  to  Philippopolis  and  other  parts  of  the 
province  in  case  of  revolt. 

At  the  Congress  the  principal  representative  of  Turkey 
was  Alexander  Pasha  Caratheodori,  a  Greek  of  quite  excep- 
tional ability,  who  was  Turkish  Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs, 
and  who  struggled  to  preserve  the  interests  of  his  master  as 
stoutly  as  any  man  could  do.  He  was  constantly  and 
rudely  snubbed  by  Bismarck,  who  told  him  in  so  many  words 
that  he  was  there  only  to  accept  what  the  Powers  dictated. 
Incidentally  I  may  mention  that  during  my  forty-two  years' 
residence  in  Turkey,  Caratheodori  was,  with  one  exception, 
the  only  Christian  ever  allowed  to  be  Minister  of  Foreign 
Affairs,  the  tradition  being  that  a  Giaour  should  occupy  that 
office  whenever  territory  had  to  be  ceded,  the  evident 
intention  being  that  any  odium  connected  with  such 
surrender  should  not  fall  upon  a  Believer.  While  the  rule 
holds  good  which  I  have  mentioned,  it  is  also  true  that 
throughout  Turkish  history  the  Under  Secretary  for  Foreign 
Affairs  has  almost  invariably  been  a  Christian. 

When  Mr.  Goschen  came  to  Constantinople  he  at  once  set 
himself  to  urge  the  Porte  to  fulfil  its  obligations  regarding 
Greece,  Montenegro,  and  Bulgaria.  Of  all  the  eleven  British 
Ambassadors  I  have  seen  in  Constantinople,  he  impressed  me 
most  with  his  thorough  business  aptitude  and  tact.  He 
took  everything  that  he  had  to  do  very  seriously.  I  re- 
member, for  example,  going  to  see  him  in  reference  to  a  debt 
of  some  thousands  of  pounds  due  to  one  of  my  clients,  and 
represented  by  havales,  upon  one  of  the  Turkish  Provincial 
Governments.  Mr.  Goschen  listened  carefully  to  the  whole 
of  my  story  and  saw  at  once  that  the  case  was  a  proper  one 
for  ambassadorial  support.  He  explained  that  he  had  often 
heard  havales  spoken  of  and  that  as  he  wanted  to  under- 
stand how  they  were  worked  he  would  be  glad  if  I  would 


THE  EGYPTIAN   QUESTION  83 

place  one  or  more  in  his  hands  and  let  him  try  to  collect  the 
money.  I,  of  course,  replied  that  I  was  delighted  to  do  so, 
and  sent  him  all  the  havales  referring  to  the  debt  in  question. 
"  I  shall  then,"  said  he,  "  get  an  idea  of  the  working  and  of 
the  difficulties  which  have  so  often  been  complained  of." 
He  put  the  machinery  of  the  Embassy  and  Consulates  in 
motion  to  obtain  payment,  but  did  not  succeed,  though  after 
his  departure  my  client,  probably  by  making  the  usual 
arrangement  to  pay  a  large  percentage  to  the  Governor  and 
other  officials,  obtained  a  part  of  his  money 

Mr.  Goschen  had  not  been  long  in  Constantinople  before 
he  was  able  to  come  to  an  agreement  in  reference  to  the 
clauses  regarding  Greece  and  Bulgaria.  As  to  Montenegro, 
the  Porte  and  Sultan  Abdul  Hamid  personally  were  more 
obstinate.  The  Mountain  State  had  had  its  independence 
acknowledged  for  the  first  time  by  European  Treaty. 
Berlin  had  declared  that  the  port  of  Antivari  on  the  Adriatic 
should  be  given  to  it.  The  Sultan  stated  that  he  would 
never  consent  to  such  sacrifice.  But  Mr.  Gladstone  was 
behind  Mr.  Goschen,  and  a  combination  between  them  was 
bound  to  effect  its  purpose.  A  naval  demonstration  had 
been  arranged  in  which  men-of-war  of  various  nations 
appeared  before  Antivari  and  Dulcigno,  and  it  was  hoped 
that  this  would  compel  the  acquiescence  of  the  Sultan. 
When  it  failed  to  do  so,  and  when  the  ships  of  all  other 
nations  withdrew,  Mr.  Goschen  went  to  the  palace  to  deliver 
an  ultimatum.  The  event  was  a  trying  one,  because  against 
him  were  joined  the  traditions  of  Turkey  and  the  not  too 
friendly  sentiments  of  ambassadors  whose  ships  had  left 
England  to  deal  alone  with  Turkey.  The  position  required  a 
man  of  exceptional  nerve,  A  friend  who  accompanied  the 
Ambassador  to  Abdul  Hamid  told  me  that  Mr.  Goschen' s  lip 
trembled  and  that  he  was  evidently  highly  strung  when  he 
informed  the  Sultan  that  if  he  did  not  give  way  British  ships 
would  occupy  an  important  port  in  his  dominions  and  hold  it 
until  he  had  yielded. 

The  position  was  especially  anxious,  because  one  after 
another  the  ships  of  various  nations  had  left  the  English 


84         FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

detachment  alone,  and  the  Sultan  believed  that  England 
would  not  risk  war  now  she  stood  alone.    The  Concert  of 
Europe,  to  which  Mr.  Gladstone  always  attached  importance 
and  which  Abdul  Hamid  dreaded,  had  proved  a  broken  reed. 
The  Sultan  had  only  England  to  reckon  with.    He  refused 
to  yield.     The  story   in  Constantinople  was  that  during 
the  evening  of  the  day  when  Mr.  Goschen  presented  the 
ultimatum,  the  Sultan  gave  way  to  an  exceptional  access  of 
anger  and  professed  that  he  would  be  happy  if  he  could  see 
London  destroyed.     In  the  meantime  the  clear-headed  and 
determined  Ambassador  had  taken  his  measures.     Probably 
no  one  in  Constantinople  but  himself  knew  what  had  been 
proposed.    The  ships  in  the  Adriatic  were  ready  to  heave 
anchor  at  a  moment's  notice  and  to  leave  under  sealed  orders. 
Everything  indeed  was  ready  for  departure  and  their  signals 
were  "  bent  on,"  when  it  was  reported  to  the  Admiral  that 
a  boat  was  coming  from  the  shore  and  that  someone  in  it  was 
frantically  waving  a  paper.     The  messenger  arrived  bringing 
the  announcement  that  the  Sultan  had  given  way.     It  was 
not  till  three  months  afterwards,  when  Parliament  had  risen, 
that  the  public  learned  that  the  sealed  orders  were  for  the 
occupation   of   Smyrna.     It   was   distinctly   a   case   of   a 
"  spirited  foreign  policy  "  which  it  was  the  fashion  at  that 
day  to  intimate  that  the  Liberal  Party  were  incapable  of 
shewing. 

It  was  whilst  Mr.  Goschen  was  Ambassador  that  there 
occurred  an  incident  which  was  illustrative  of  Turkish 
opinion.  A  certain  Colonel  Cumaroff,  a  man  greatly 
respected,  was  the  military  attache  of  the  Russian  Embassy. 
He  was  riding  in  the  principal  street  of  Pera,  about  a  mile 
and  a  half  distant  from  the  Embassy,  when  a  Moslem  stepped 
out  into  the  road,  took  deliberate  aim  and  shot  him  dead. 
The  incident  made  a  great  sensation.  The  Sultan,  in  order 
to  satisfy  foreign  pubUc  opinion,  put  the  man  on  his  trial 
for  wilful  murder  before  a  special  court,  at  which  one  or  more 
representatives  of  each  Embassy  was  present.  The  case 
was  perfectly  clear ;  the  man  avowed  his  guilt,  and  was 
sentenced  to  death. 


THE  EGYPTIAN  QUESTION  85 

I  was  not  present  when  the  following  incident  occurred. 
It  was  related  to  me  by  the  late  Hobart  Pasha,  an  English 
naval  officer,  brother  of  Lord  Hobart,  who  had  been  Presi- 
dent of  the  Imperial  Ottoman  Bank.  The  Pasha  met  me  on 
the  evening  of  one  of  the  early  days  of  the  trial,  and  expressed 
his  regret  that  I  had  not  been  present  in  court  as  he  had 
been.  We  had  been  speaking  together  two  days  earlier  of 
the  attitude  of  mind  of  Moslems  of  the  baser  sort  towards 
Christians,  and  I  had  expressed  the  opinion  that  they 
thought  of  us  as  inferior  beings.  The  Pasha  remarked  that 
had  I  been  there  I  should  have  seen  a  remarkable  confirma- 
tion of  my  opinion.  The  prisoner  was  asked  after  he  had 
admitted  that  he  shot  Cumaroff,  "  Did  you  know  that  he 
was  a  Christian  ?  "  In  reply  he  turned  indignantly  to  his 
judges  and  said,  "  Of  course  I  did.  You  do  not  suppose 
that  I  would  shoot  a  Believer,  do  you  ?  "  Hobart  said  his 
answer  was  as  if  he  had  been  asked,  "  Did  you  know  that 
Cumaroff  was  a  dog  ?  "  "  You  don't  think  I  am  capable 
of  shooting  a  man,  do  you?  " 

Although  the  prisoner  was  condemned,  days  and  weeks 
passed,  and  in  spite  of  the  representations  of  the  Russian 
Embassy  the  man  was  not  executed.  Mr.  Goschen  himself  told 
me  that  he  had  informed  the  Russian  Ambassador  that  he  and 
all  his  colleagues  would  support  him  if  he  pressed  for  execu- 
tion. Finally  the  Russian  Ambassador  concluded  that  Abdul 
Hamid  dare  not  have  him  hanged.  He  wished  to  appear  to 
his  subjects  as  the  protector  of  Moslems  against  Christians, 
and  the  Ambassador  told  Mr.  Goschen  they  "  would  have  to 
put  the  murder  in  the  bill,"  meaning,  of  course,  in  the 
list  of  grievances  that  was  already  beginning  to  accumulate 
against  Abdul  Hamid.    The  man  never  was  executed. 

A  case  happened  about  the  same  time  of  the  murder  of  an 
American  missionary  near  Ismidt.  Here  also,  in  spite  of 
many  representations  made  to  the  Government  and  of  the 
fact  that  the  murderer  was  well  known,  no  redress  was 
granted.  A  Christian  subject  of  the  Sultan  remarked  to 
me  at  the  time  of  both  these  cases,  "  You  see  that  Abdul 
Hamid  is  even  worse  than  his  predecessors,  because  even 


85         FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

when  the  victim  is  a  foreigner  of  distinction,  all  the  Powers 
of  Europe  cannot  exact  justice  from  him.  What  chance 
do  you  think  we  natives  should  have  ?  "  The  remark 
conveyed  the  truth.  There  were  constantly  offences  com- 
mitted by  Moslems  against  Christians  for  which  not  only  was 
there  no  redress  but  the  people  did  not  expect  any. 

When  the  objects  of  Mr,  Goschen's  special  mission  were 
accompUshed,  namely  in  June,  1881,  he  returned  to  England. 


CHAPTER  VIII 


EGYPT 


Lord  Dufferin  Appointed  Ambassador — The  Revolt  of 
Arabi  Pasha — Turkish  Pin-pricks — The  Bombardment 
of  Alexandria — Tel-el-Kebir — The  British  Left  to 
Restore  Order — ^Turkey's  Help  Solicited — The  Sultan's 
Refusal — Baker  Pasha's  Anxiety — Mr.  Gladstone  Deter- 
mined— British  Troops  Land — Lord  and  Lady  Dufferin's 
Services  to  the  European  Colony — The  Girls'  High 
School — Lady  Dufferin's  Popularity — ^A  Courteous 
but  Strong  Ambassador — ^A  Broad-minded  Man. 

MR.  GOSCHEN  was  succeeded  by  Lord  Dufferin, 
who  had  been  for  a  short  time  Ambassador  in 
St.  Petersburg,  which  he  left  in  June,  1881. 
After  his  arrival  he  soon  found  himself  engaged  in  a  very 
serious  business,  for  in  September  of  that  year  the  curious 
revolt  of  Arabi  Pasha  occurred.  It  must  be  remembered 
that  Egypt  was  still  under  the  rule  of  the  Sultan,  who,  like 
his  predecessors,  attached  the  utmost  importance  to  the 
retention  of  his  sovereign  rights  over  that  country.  Ismail 
Pasha,  the  Khedive,  as  already  stated,  had  been  deposed, 
granted  a  generous  pension,  and  succeeded  by  his  son  Tewfik. 
During  a  time  of  great  trouble  and  anxiety.  Lord  Dufferin 
proved  that  though  he  was  a  man  of  a  courtesy  so  extreme 
and  genuine  as  to  suggest  that  he  had  kissed  the  blarney 
stone,  he  well  understood  the  maxim  fortiter  in  re, 
suaviter  in  modo.  The  impression  he  at  first  created  at  the 
palace  and  amongst  the  Turkish  Ministers  was,  and  con- 
tinued to  be  for  some  time  after  his  arrival,  that  he  was  so 
complacent  or  even  weak  that  they  could  do  anything  they 
liked  with  him.     They  remarked  that  he  was  an  Irishman, 

87 


88         FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

and  not  an  Englishman.  A  Minister  commented  on  this  to 
me,  and  felt  sure  that  he  was  especially  favourable  to  every- 
thing Turkish.  I  reminded  them  that  in  i860  he  had  com- 
menced his  career — when  sent  to  enquire  into  the  massacres 
on  the  Lebanon — by  hanging  two  Pashas.  "  He  has  learned 
wisdom  since  then,"  was  the  reply. 

A  fussy  official  objected  to  foreigners  displaying  their 
national  flags  on  Sundays  or  holidays,  and  induced  the 
Grand  Vizier  to  make  a  representation  to  Lord  Dufferin  and 
other  Ambassadors  by  which  the  subjects  under  their 
protection  were  forbidden  to  hoist  their  flags — just  one  of 
those  silly,  useless,  and  anno5dng  things  which  a  certain  class 
of  Turkish  official  is  constantly  doing.  Lord  Dufferin 
yielded  to  their  request.  The  Turks  at  once  pointed  to  him 
as  a  more  sincere  friend  than  his  predecessor  Sir  Henry 
Layard.  I  remember  talking  over  with  him  this  and  two  or 
three  other  questions,  one  regarding  the  British  Post  Office 
and  the  other  having  reference  to  the  International  Sanitary 
Commission,  in  each  of  which  he  had  given  way  to  Turkish 
demands.  He  made  light  of  them,  but  remarked  that  when 
you  are  likely  to  have  a  controversy  with  a  man,  it  was 
especially  necessary  to  be  civil  and  courteous  towards  him. 

The  great  controversy  which  he  probably  then  had  in  view 
regarded  Egypt.  In  order  to  understand  what  he  had  to  do, 
an  explanation  is  necessary.  In  the  previous  year  Arabi 
and  Mahmud  had  formed  a  military  committee  which  aimed 
at  cleansing  the  army  of  its  Turkish  officers  and  the  country 
of  foreigners  generally.  They  organised  demonstrations 
outside  the  Khedive's  palace,  at  which  the  cry  was,  "  Egypt 
for  the  Egyptians  ! "  In  February,  1882,  they  forced  on  the 
Khedive  an  administration  of  their  own  with  Mahmud  at 
the  head  and  Arabi  as  Minister  of  War.  The  European 
Concert  was  invoked  and  a  conference  held  at  Constan- 
tinople. There  was  a  conspiracy  to  assassinate  Arabi  and  to 
dethrone  the  Khedive  in  April. 

Rioting  took  place  at  Alexandria  and  Cairo  in  June. 
Alexandria  was  fortified,  and  both  England  and  France 
protested  against  the  misgovernment  of  Arabi  and  the 


THE    MARQUESS   OF   DUFFERIN   AND   AVA 


EGYPT  89 

fortification.  The  British  threatened  bombardment,  and 
shortly  afterwards  Admiral  Seymour  destroyed  its  forts, 
July  10,  1882,  the  French  fleet  taking  no  part  in  the 
operation.  About  5,000  British  soldiers  were  landed  at  the 
end  of  the  same  month.  Arabi  attempted  to  cut  off  the 
water  supply,  whereupon  the  Khedive  declared  him  a  rebel. 
On  July  24  Arabi  proclaimed  a  Jehad,  or  Holy  War. 

On  the  31st  the  French  fleet  withdrew,  and  a  few  days 
afterwards  Suez  was  occupied  by  British  marines.  Sir 
Garnet  Wolseley  landed  at  Alexandria  and  assumed  com- 
mand. A  brilliant  movement  was  effected  by  Sir  Garnet 
at  Tel-el-Kebir  in  September.  On  the  12th  of  that  month 
he  had  advanced  with  11,000  infantry,  2,000  cavalry,  and 
forty  guns  from  Ismailia  on  the  Canal.  The  victorious  British 
army  entered  Cairo  on  September  14.  The  Khedive  himself 
made  a  formal  triumphant  entry  on  the  25th.  To  complete 
this  portion  of  my  story  I  may  add  that  on  November  9 
formal  notice  was  given  by  England  of  the  abandonment  of 
the  Anglo-French  control,  which  ceased  on  January  11, 
1883.  Arabi,  it  will  be  remembered,  was  sent  as  a  prisoner 
to  Ceylon. 

Two  questions  of  special  interest  arose  during  these 
events.  The  first  regarded  common  action  with  France. 
From  a  variety  of  causes  friction  between  England  and 
France  had  been  growing.  As  the  Dual  Control  had  worked 
with  a  fair  amount  of  success  and  satisfaction,  the  two 
Governments  of  England  and  France  considered  it  essential 
that  they  should  continue  to  work  together  for  the  good  of 
the  country,  and  therefore  in  opposition  to  the  party  of 
Arabi.  England  was  most  anxious  to  have  the  co-operation 
of  France  in  all  that  she  undertook  in  Egypt.  The  French 
joined  with  us  for  a  while,  but,  as  we  have  seen,  at  a  crucial 
moment  their  fleet  quitted  Egyptian  waters  and  left  us  to 
restore  order  and  establish  the  authority  of  the  Khedive. 
My  sympathies  as  an  Englishman  were  naturally  with  our 
own  people,  and  I,  like  every  other  Englishman  in  Con- 
stantinople, regretted  that  France  should  have  left  us  in  the 
lurch. 


90         FORTY  YEARS  IN   CONSTANTINOPLE 

I  may  anticipate  some  two  years  and  mention  that  at  the 
end  of  that  time  I  met  an  old  friend  of  mine,  a  Frenchman, 
clear-headed  and  honest,  who  had  been  connected  with  the 
Control  in  Egypt.  In  the  course  of  our  conversation  I  put 
the  question  to  him  in  this  fashion,  "  Forget  that  I  am  an 
EngUshman  and  that  you  are  a  Frenchman,  and  tell  me  as  an 
old  friend  :  were  we  justified  in  acting  against  Egypt  when 
your  fleet  had  gone  away  ?  What  is  the  true  story  ?  "  He 
looked  at  me  for  some  time  and  then  said,  "  Well,  as 
you  put  it  to  me  on  the  ground  of  our  old  friendship,  I  will  tell 
you  the  position.  There  was  a  canaille  in  Egypt,  and  especi- 
ally in  Cairo,  that  from  the  first  believed  it  in  their  interest 
that  France  should  not  act  with  you.  I  believe  that  every 
honest  Frenchman  in  France  would  agree  with  these  pro- 
positions :  first,  that  you  frankly  invited  us  to  act  with  you 
because  you  wanted  our  aid  and  believed  that  the  Dual 
Control  was  beneficial  to  Egypt  as  well  as  to  the  two 
countries.  Secondly,  that  you  had  so  pledged  yourselves  to 
assist  the  Khedive  in  restoring  order  that  you  could  not  pos- 
sibly abstain  from  action  without  dishonour ;  further,  that 
you  did  your  best  to  induce  us  to  join  you,  and  that  the  great 
majority  of  thoughtful  Frenchmen  in  Egypt  recognised  these 
facts,  believed  even  that  you  would  come  in  whether  we  joined 
you  or  not,  and  therefore  urged  our  Government  to  take 
common  action.  But  the  opposite  party  made  a  furious  hub- 
bub in  the  Egyptian  Press,  sent  absurd  telegrams  to  Gam- 
betta,  declaring  amongst  other  things  that  England  would 
not  venture  upon  naval  and  military  operations  without  the 
co-operation  of  France.  This  party  triumphed,  as  we  fore- 
saw that  it  would."  "  But  was  our  conduct  quite  correct?  " 
"  Yes,  absolutely.  You  could  not  get  out  of  it  honourably." 
Now  returning  to  Lord  Dufferin's  share  in  the  matter,  I 
continue  my  narrative  regarding  the  second  question  with 
which  he  had  to  deal.  Mr.  Gladstone's  Government  was 
most  anxious  to  obtain  the  co-operation  of  the  Turkish 
Government,  especially  on  the  defection  of  the  French. 
He  recognised,  of  course,  that  the  Sultan  was  the  suzerain  of 
the  Khedive,  and  he  did  not  wish  to  do  anything  which  should 


EGYPT  91 

be  or  appear  to  be  against  the  interests  of  Turkey.  Lord 
Dufferin  was  therefore  instructed  to  request  Turkey  to  send 
a  number  of  troops  who  should  enter  the  country  when  ours 
did,  and  thus  assist  in  preserving  the  rights  of  the  suzerain. 
Lord  Dufferin  soon  found  that  some  of  the  Powers,  with 
France  at  their  head,  were  using  their  influence  with  the 
Sultan  to  persuade  him  to  refuse  the  demand  of  England. 
The  diplomatic  world  in  Constantinople  was  intensely 
excited,  the  great  questions  being  would  Turkey  consent  or 
not  ?  would  England  dare  to  enter  Egypt  without  the 
support  of  the  Turkish  troops  now  that  France  had  with- 
drawn her  fleet  ?  It  was,  in  fact,  the  commencement  of  a 
period  of  pin-pricks,  during  which  France  was  as  nearly 
hostile  to  England  as  she  could  be  without  furnishing  a 
casus  belli. 

When  the  British  proposal  had  been  presented  by  Lord 
Dufferin  to  the  Porte,  he  was  worried  almost  daily  by 
suggestions  and  proposed  modifications  on  the  part  of 
Turkish  Ministers.  Thereupon  he  took  a  step  which  was 
characteristic  of  the  man.  He  possessed  a  very  beautiful 
little  yacht  in  which,  accompanied  by  Lady  Dufferin,  he  was 
fond  of  running  down  to  the  Island  of  Prinkipo,  which  has 
been  my  residence  during  the  summer  for  many  years  past, 
and  where  on  more  than  one  occasion  I  have  raced  with  him 
between  the  city  and  the  point  in  the  island  known  as  the 
Glossa.  To  the  Glossa  he  came  one  day  in  his  yacht  and 
anchored  on  the  south  side  of  it.  The  launch  belonging  to 
the  Embassy  Dispatch  boat  brought  him  letters  daily,  but  the 
general  belief  in  the  city  was  that  he  had  gone  for  a  cruise. 
In  any  case  he  was  not  get-at-able. 

At  that  time  Baker  Pasha,  otherwise  Colonel  Valentine 
Baker,  hved  on  the  island  almost  opposite  to  me.  He  had 
thrown  in  his  lot  heart  and  soul  with  Turkey.  Usually  he 
went  to  town  in  his  own  steam  launch.  But  I  saw  him  nearly 
every  night,  and  a  very  curious  experience  I  had.  He  began 
by  expressing  his  opinion  that  as  a  matter  of  course  Turkey 
would  accede  to  the  wishes  of  England  and  send  an  army. 
On  the  second  or  third  meeting  during  an  eventful  week  he 


92         FORTY  YEARS   IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

began  to  be  doubtful.  At  the  palace,  to  which  he  went  every 
day,  the  Sultan  had  been  persuaded  that  England  dare  not 
enter  Egypt  unless  Turkish  troops  entered  also.  Baker  had 
replied  that  they  did  not  know  the  British  Government, 
which,  having  pledged  its  word  to  go  in,  would  enter  with 
the  Turks  or  without  them.  Nor  did  they  know  Mr. 
Gladstone.  "  'Twas  not  a  case,"  said  he,  "  of  not  daring  to  go 
in  without  the  Turks,  but  of  not  daring  to  violate  his  word." 

Some  fools  at  the  palace  had  told  them  that  the  Tories 
would  be  delighted  if  the  Sultan  refused,  because  the  rebuff 
to  Gladstone,  who  was  regarded  as  the  arch-enemy  of  Turkey, 
would  be  a  great  weapon  in  the  hands  of  the  Opposition. 
Baker  Pasha  replied  that  he  did  not  belong  to  the  Glad- 
stonian  party,  but  to  the  Opposition,  and  that  under  the 
circumstances  such  a  move  would  be  out  of  the  frying-pan 
into  the  fire.  But  invariably  the  Sultan  and  those  who 
reflected  his  influence  came  back  to  the  statement  that 
England  dare  not  enter  except  with  the  permission  of 
Turkey  and  with  Turkish  troops. 

We  all  knew  the  English  army  was  in  Egypt  *  and  we 
conjectured,  though  we  did  not  know,  that  Mr.  Gladstone's 
Government  would  recognise  that  delay  itself  meant  defeat. 
Lord  Dufferin  knew  more,  and  while  urging  the  Turks  in 
every  possible  way  to  send  troops,  as  the  week  drew  to  an 
end  he  became  anxious  for  news.  The  Sultan  also  became 
anxious,  and  on  a  particular  day — if  my  memory  serves  me, 
a  Saturday — Lord  Dufferin  received  an  urgent  message  to 
go  to  the  palace.  He  of  course  compUed.  He  went  in  the 
morning,  and  had  submitted  to  him  various  projects  which 
he  informed  His  Majesty  he  was  not  authorised  to  discuss. 
The  one  question  between  them  was  would  His  Majesty  send 
troops  immediately.  No  Turk  ever  does  anything  im- 
mediately, and  no  man  believes  more  firmly  than  does  a 
Turkish  ruler  that  in  the  multitude  of  counsellors  there|is 
wisdom. 
Lord  Dufferin  was  kept  there  the  whole  of  the  afternoon 

*  Some  40,000  men  under  Sir  Garnet  Wolseley  and  General 
Macpherson,  who  was  in  command  of  the  Indian  Contingent. 


EGYPT  93 

and  could  not  get  away  even  for  dinner.  Finally,  after 
dinner  he  insisted  upon  going.  He  left,  and  started  for  his 
house  at  Therapia,  greatly  distressed  and  marvelling  that  he 
had  received  no  telegram  from  Egypt.  Half-way  home  he 
met  his  secretary  and  others  coming  towards  him,  and  the 
first  impatient  question  was,  "  Has  the  telegram  arrived  ?  " 
Yes,  it  had  arrived,  two  or  three  hours,  I  forget  which, 
previously,  but  had  taken  long  in  decoding.  Wolseley  had 
landed  on  the  canal.    The  British  troops  were  advancing. 

I  saw  Baker  Pasha,  who  on  the  previous  day  had  been 
terribly  alarmed  at  the  failure  of  his  endeavours  to  persuade 
the  Turks  that  England  would  enter  Egypt  with  or  without 
the  Turks.  "  They  are  mad,"  said  he.  "  They  have  so 
high  an  opinion  of  their  own  importance  that  they  are  firmly 
persuaded  that  we  are  simply  bluffing  and  would  not  venture 
to  land  without  a  Turkish  force."  He  had  reminded  them 
that  they  had  held  a  similar  opinion  of  Mr.  Goschen,  but  had 
wisely  given  way  at  the  last  moment  and  thus  saved  Turkey 
from  the  humiliation  of  seeing  its  great  port  of  Smyrna 
placed  under  the  domination  of  British  guns.  Their  reply 
had  been  that  there  was  no  proof  of  that,  and  that  at  any 
rate  at  that  time,  though  the  French  and  other  fleets  had 
left  ours  alone  at  Antivari,  the  French  and  other  Powers 
were  now  supporting  Turkey,  and  advised  the  Sultan  not  to 
send  troops.  Poor  Baker  was  in  despair.  He  left  the  city 
next  day  in  a  steamer  without  bidding  good-bye  to  the 
Sultan  or  any  of  the  Turkish  Ministers,  and  started  for 
Egypt.  The  Turkish  official  papers,  as  soon  as  his  departure 
was  known,  denounced  him,  probably  on  orders  from  the 
palace,  as  a  traitor.  The  denunciation  was  silly  and  useless, 
did  him  no  harm  and  them  no  good.  On  reaching  Egypt 
he  was  at  once  appointed  commander  of  a  new  Egyptian 
army. 

Before  taking  leave  of  Baker  Pasha,  a  few  lines  may  be 
added  as  to  his  future  career.  Great  troubles  had  arisen  in 
the  Sudan,  where,  under  the  Mahdi,  named  Mahomet  Ach- 
med,  an  insurrection  occurred  in  1881.  After  several  small 
skirmishes    the  Mahdi    massacred    6,000    Egyptians    in 


94         FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

June,  1882.  Then  an  Egyptian  army,  under  Hicks  Pasha, 
was  sent  against  him.  This  army  of  11,000  men  was 
destroyed.  Meantime  Baker  had  been  engaged  in  the 
discipline  of  the  force  placed  under  his  command.  His  army 
took  the  field  after  Hicks'  disaster.  A  battle  took  place 
near  Tokar,  to  the  west  of  the  harbour  of  Sudan,  in  which 
again  the  Mahdi  was  successful.  Baker's  men  made  a 
better  stand  than  did  those  of  Hicks,  but  nevertheless  they 
were  so  badly  beaten  that  Baker  was  in  despair.  He  died 
shortly  afterwards  in  Egypt. 

Lord  and  Lady  Dufferin  were  always  ready  while  in 
Constantinople  to  support  any  movement  in  furtherance 
of  education  or  of  other  useful  objects.  Dr.  Washburn,  Dr. 
Long,  Dr.  Patterson  the  surgeon  of  the  British  Seamen's 
Home  in  Constantinople,  the  Rev.  George  Washington,  who 
was  the  British  Embassy  Chaplain  and  the  head  of  the  elder 
branch  of  the  family  to  which  the  great  American  belonged, 
and  I,  regretting  the  absence  of  any  means  by  which  girls 
beyond  the  school  age,  which  usually  t^minated  at  fourteen, 
could  continue  their  education,  had  a  private  meeting  at 
which  we  formed  ourselves  into  a  committee  for  the  forma- 
tion of  ladies'  classes,  and  each  of  us  undertook  to  give  a 
cxjurse  of  lectiures.  Subsequently  we  had  the  advantage  of 
the  aid  of  Dr.  Alexander  van  MiUingen,  the  son  of  the 
medical  man  who  attended  Lord  Byron  in  his  last  illness, 
and  who  was,  and  still  is.  Professor  of  History  at  Robert 
Cdlege. 

The  classes  supplied  a  want.  We  charged  only  a  small  fee 
to  cover  expenses,  and  had  girls  belonging  to  many  nation- 
alities. In  this  and  in  other  similar  matters  Lord  Dufferin 
gave  his  cordial  support.  He  was  greatly  interested, 
especially  in  the  progress  of  Robert  College,  and,  like  every 
other  British  Ambassador  in  Constantinople,  very  highly 
valued  the  soundness  of  judgment  and  the  fulness  of 
information  which  Dr.  Washburn  especially  possessed  in 
r^ard  to  all  the  races  in  the  Turkish  Empire.  I  may 
mention  that  Dr.  Washburn  wrote  a  volimie  which  in  a 


EGYPT  95 

certain  sense  may  be  called  his  autobiography,  but  it  is  so 
occupied  with  his  educational  work  at  Robert  College  that 
it  does  not  give  any  indication  of  the  way  in  which  he  was 
trusted  by  all  the  competent  British  Ambassadors  during  his 
fifty  years  in  Turkey. 

Lord  Dufferin  took  great  interest  in  the  revival  of  the 
English  High  School  for  girls.  Its  history  is  interesting. 
Towards  the  end  of  the  Crimean  war  Sultan  Abdul 
Mejid,  the  father  of  Abdul  Hamid,  granted  two  pieces  of 
property  to  the  English  and  French  respectively  for  the 
establishment  of  girls'  schools.  As  at  that  time  landed 
property  could  not  be  inscribed  in  the  name  of  a  foreigner — 
and  the  only  title  deed  recognised  in  Turkish  land  law  is  an 
inscription  or  a  legalised  copy  of  such  inscription  in  the 
pubUc  land  register — the  difficulty  of  making  a  title  had  to 
be  surmounted  by  a  well-recognised  Turkish  fiction.  In 
conformity  with  this  fiction  every  woman  is  a  Turkish 
subject.  Accordingly  the  property  was  inscribed  in  the 
name  of  the  wife  of  Stratford  Canning,  afterwards  Lady 
Stratford  de  Redcliffe. 

The  property  was  situated  in  the  very  best  part  of  the 
chief  street  in  Pera,  and  consisted  of  a  huge,  rambling  old 
Turkish  house,  which  during  the  Crimean  war  had  been  a 
cafe  and  the  rendezvous  of  French  and  English  officers. 
"When  this  was  converted  into  a  school  Lady  Canning  took 
great  interest  in  it,  had  a  class  for  the  pupils  round  at  the 
Embassy  every  week,  and  exercised  an  influence  upon  the 
girls  of  various  nationalities  which  was  altogether  beneficial 
and  is  still  gratefully  remembered  by  many  old  ladies  in  Pera. 
The  school  was  open  to  girls  of  all  nationalities,  but  the 
language  was  to  be  English.  So  long  as  Lady  Canning  re- 
mained, and  for  a  few  years  after  her  departure,  the  school  was 
a  success.  Then,  probably  owing  to  the  difficulty  of  finding 
a  suitable  head-teacher,  the  number  of  pupils  decreased, 
and  when  I  arrived  in  Constantinople  the  institution  was 
closed. 

Upon  learning  some  three  or  four  years  afterwards  that,  as 
part  of  the  grant,  there  were  a  number  of  shops  which 


96         FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

produced  good  rents,  some  of  us  concluded  that  the  position 
was  a  scandal,  and  that  steps  should  be  taken  to  reopen  the 
institution.  We  were  met  by  the  statement  that  the  land 
and  buildings  were  the  private  property  of  Lady  Canning, 
and  that  no  useful  action  could  be  taken.  Further  enquiry 
led  me  and  others  to  conclude  that  this  was  not  the  case,  and 
the  matter  was  submitted  by  some  of  us  to  Mr.  Morgan 
Foster,  the  Director-General  of  the  Ottoman  Bank,  with  a 
request  that  he  would  see  Sir  Henry  Layard  on  the  subject 
and  ask  him  to  communicate  with  Lady  Stratford  de  Red- 
cliffe,  as  she  then  was.  Mr.  Foster  was  always  ready  to  do 
what  he  could  for  the  advantage  of  the  British  community 
and  undertook  the  task.  Sir  Henry  communicated  with 
Lady  Stratford  de  Redcliffe,  who,  although  she  was  aware 
that  the  land  was  inscribed  in  her  name,  recognised  at  once 
that  she  was  only  a  trustee,  and  wisely  put  the  matter  into 
the  hands  of  her  solicitors.  Negotiations  followed,  and  after 
full  enquiries,  a  trust  deed  was  drawn  up  dealing  with  the 
property,  appointing  a  Committee  for  the  conduct  of  the 
school,  and  making  provisions  for  its  management. 

Meantime  Turkish  land  law  had  been  changed,  and  per- 
mission had  been  given  to  inscribe  property  in  the  name  of  a 
corporation  sole,  such  as  an  Embassy  or  a  Consulate.  The 
school  was  opened,  and  after  a  tentative  effort,  which  was  not 
altogether  successful,  we  appointed  a  head-mistress,  or,  as 
the  Trust  Deed  calls  her,  a  Lady  Directress,  and  a  staff  of 
teachers.  The  Committee  took  over  the  management  of  the 
shops  in  question,  and  for  twenty  years  the  old  ramshackle 
Turkish  cafe  was  a  great  success  as  a  school.  The  com- 
munity took  great  interest  in  it,  and  about  two  hundred  girls 
attended,  an  attendance  which  has  virtually  kept  at  that  up 
to  the  present  time. 

About  fourteen  years  ago  municipal  requirements  de- 
manded that  a  considerable  portion  of  our  frontage  should  be 
given  to  the  high  street  of  Pera,  and  the  Committee  took  the 
opportunity  of  putting  up  a  new  set  of  buildings  in  which, 
under  Miss  Greene,  and  subsequently  Miss  Charters,  the 
school  has  been  an  unqualified  success.    I  may  be  excused 


EGYPT  97 

for  mentioning  that  I  have  been  Chairman  of  this  Com- 
mittee during  the  last  fifteen  years. 

On  the  outbreak  of  war  in  November  last,  following  the 
bombardment  of  Odessa,  the  police  appeared  at  the  school, 
gave  the  scholars  and  teachers  ten  minutes'  notice,  and  three 
days  afterwards  took  possession  of  the  buildings  and  con- 
verted them  into  a  Turkish  boys'  school.  I  was  still  in 
Constantinople,  and  was  amused  at  hearing  of  the  remark  of 
one  of  the  persons  whose  duty  it  was  to  take  over  the  school, 
that  "  this  was  as  stupid  a  business  as  he  had  ever  known, 
because  every  Turk  knew  that  sooner  or  later  they  would 
have  to  clear  out  of  the  building  and  pay  for  the  damage 
done." 

At  no  time  during  my  residence  in  Turkey  was  the  British 
Embassy  so  completely  the  centre  of  social  life  as  during 
that  of  the  Dufferins.  This  was  due  as  much  to  Lady 
Dufferin  as  to  her  husband.  Each  displayed  energy  and 
tact,  and  showed  a  desire  to  be  agreeable  to  their  public,  and 
did  it  in  such  a  charming  way  as  to  make  them  both  highly 
popular.  The  handsome  ballroom  of  the  Embassy  was  con- 
verted at  times  into  a  theatre,  and  a  number  of  performances 
took  place  in  which  the  principal  players  were  Lady  Dufferin 
and  members  of  the  Staff,  or  if,  as  was  usually  the  case,  one 
of  the  pieces  was  in  French,  there  would  be  members  of  some 
other  Embassy. 

I  have  pleasant  recollections  of  these  various  performances, 
but  of  one  in  particular.  I  cannot  recall  the  name  of  the 
piece,  but  in  the  course  of  it  there  appeared  a  waiter  who  was 
a  glorious  pessimist.  If  the  day  promised  to  be  fine,  he 
would  remark  that  such  days  usually  ended  in  rain,  or  storm, 
and  so  on.  The  audience  enjoyed  this  character  more  than 
that  of  any  other  in  the  piece.  When  it  was  over  I  was  at  the 
refreshment  table  when  Lord  Dufferin  came  up  and  asked 
how  I  liked  the  piece.  I,  of  course,  said  I  had  enjoyed  it,  but 
I  fancied  that  the  pessimist  in  question  did  not  exist  in  the 
piece  as  it  was  written.  I  suggested  that  it  had  been 
adapted  by  Lord  Dufferin  himself  and  that  the  character  of 

H 


98         FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

Wilson  in  his  Letters  from  High  Latitudes  had  been  worked 
in  as  the  pessimist.  Lord  Dufferin  seemed  surprised,  and  at 
once  admitted  it  was  so,  adding  that  he  expected  that  I  was 
the  only  man  in  the  audience  who  knew  anything  about 
Wilson  or  thought  that  he.  Lord  Dufferin,  had  any  hand  in 
writing  the  piece.  This  led  the  conversation  to  the  subject 
of  Wilson,  and  I  asked  if  he  was  a  real  character  as  repre- 
sented in  the  letters.  He  assured  me  that  he  was,  and  then 
told  me  certain  details  about  him.  I  informed  him  that  I  had 
read  the  book  in  high  latitudes,  fifty-eight  degrees  south, 
near  Cape  Horn.  Next  day,  with  the  kindUness  that 
characterised  him,  he  sent  me  a  charming  letter  stating 
that  as  I  was  interested  in  the  fate  of  Wilson  he  begged 
me  to  accept  the  latest  edition  of  the  Letters  from  High 
Latitudes,  in  which  I  should  find  additional  particulars 
about  the  pessimist. 

The  question  has  often  been  raised  as  to  who  are  the  men 
who  get  through  most  work.  Are  they  those  who  work 
constantly  at  a  subject  without  relaxation  ?  Nearly  fifty 
years  ago  I  made  the  acquaintance  of  Mr.  Edwin  Field.  It 
was  at  the  time  when  the  new  Law  Courts  were  about  to  be 
built.  I  bring  in  his  name  here  as  a  contributor  to  the 
discussion  of  the  questions  just  suggested.  The  theory 
which  he  held  was  that  a  man  should  have  only  one  subject 
for  work  and  one  hobby,  and  in  that  way  he  maintained  he 
would  make  the  most  of  his  life.  Lord  Dufferin  had  very 
much  the  same  kind  of  theory,  except  that  both  as  to  work 
and  to  hobbies  he  was  more  liberal.  He  took  a  broad, 
statesmanlike  view  of  poUtical  questions,  and  left  details  to 
be  worked  out  by  his  subordinates.  He  had  the  capacity  of 
utilising  other  men.  But  woe  to  the  subordinate  who  acted 
contrary  to  his  wishes  ! 

I  happened  to  be  present  on  one  occasion  when  a  Consul, 
who  was  never  distinguished  for  good  judgment,  took  it 
upon  himself  to  act  directly  against  his  orders.  Lord 
Dufferin  let  out  at  him  so  strongly  that  I  rose  and  said,  "  I 
think  I  ought  not  to  be  present."  He  put  his  arm  in  front  of 
me  and  said,  "  Sit  down,  Pears.    This  does  not  concern  you, 


^•ftWIKJ 


J 


THE    MARCHIONESxS   OK    DUFFERIN    AND   AVA 


EGYPT  99 

but  don't  go."  Lord  Dufferin  knew  what  he  wanted,  and 
would  have  it  done  as  he  wanted.  Then  as  to  his  hobby. 
I  remember  him  teUing  me  that  when  he  had  done  his  work 
an  exciting  novel  was  the  best  form  of  relaxation  he  could 
take.  But  I  soon  found  that  he  had  another  hobby :  he 
drew  and  painted  excellently  for  an  amateur,  the  particular 
form  which  he  favoured  being  in  pastel. 

In  all  that  he  did  Dufferin  was  the  grand  seigneur,  a 
gentleman  outwardly  and  inwardly.  I  had  lunched  and 
dined  at  his  table  several  times  before  I  heard  that  he  was  a 
teetotaler.  There  was  always  a  liberal  assortment  of  wines 
of  which  I  took  my  share,  but  after  I  had  been  informed  that 
the  host  was  an  abstainer,  I  watched  him  with  some  care. 
He  would  pass  the  decanter  readily  or  call  out  to  a  man 
across  the  table  to  pass  it  on,  and  I  remember  especially  one 
occasion  when  I  was  at  his  right  hand  and  the  port  was 
offered  me,  he  remarked,  "  Try  that.  I  don't  drink  port, 
but  they  tell  me  that's  a  very  good  sample."  Had  I  not 
known  my  man,  I  should  have  supposed  that  his  abstention 
was  only  from  port,  instead  of  from  everything  alcoholic. 
But  that  was  the  man. 

As  I  have  referred  to  Mr.  Edwin  Field,  I  may  mention  how 
I  first  came  to  make  his  acquaintance.  It  was  early  in 
1869,  shortly  after  I  had  been  elected  General  Secretary  of 
the  Social  Science  Association.  Its  legal  section  included 
men  of  great  eminence  in  both  branches  of  the  profession. 
A  sub-committee  had  been  formed  which  ultimately  suc- 
ceeded in  persuading  Mr.  Gladstone,  then  Chancellor  of  the 
Exchequer,  that  the  Suitors'  Fund  could  be  properly  applied 
to  the  construction  of  new  Law  Courts.  Mr.  Gladstone,  who 
was  always  intensely  conservative  in  the  matter  of  the 
expenditure  of  public  money,  required  a  good  deal  of  con- 
vincing before  he  assented  to  the  proposal.  For  the  benefit 
of  non-legal  readers  I  may  explain  that  the  fund  in  question 
is  the  accumulation  of  money  in  the  Chancery  and  other 
Courts,  the  owners  of  which  could  not  be  found.  It  had  gone 
on  accumulating  from  about  1688.    The  Committee  took  up 


200       FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

the  ground  that  the  likelihood  upon  the  doctrine  of  chances 
showed  it  to  be  impossible  that  anything  like  half  of  such 
fund  could  ever  be  claimed. 

The  Committee  stuck  to  its  task,  and  at  the  time  when  I 
became  its  secretary  had  to  submit  a  resolution  to  the 
Government  of  very  great  importance.  I  knew  absolutely 
nothing  about  the  subject,  but  met  about  eighteen  or  twenty 
members  perhaps  who  were  deeply  interested.  Three- 
quarters  of  an  hour  passed,  resolution  after  resolution  was 
proposed,  and,  finally,  I  took  down  one  which  the  Committee 
proposed  to  adopt.  During  the  discussion,  one  member 
after  another  had  said,  "  Where  is  Mr.  Field  ?  "  At  the 
last  moment  a  tall,  well-built  man  rushed  into  the  room 
making  profuse  excuses  for  being  late,  and  explaining  to 
everybody's  satisfaction  how  it  had  been  impossible  for  him 
to  arrive  earlier.  He  then  asked,  "  What  have  you  done  ?  " 
I  read  the  resolution.  He  said  at  once,  "  That  won't  do." 
In  three  minutes  he  had  convinced  everybody  in  the  room 
that  it  would  not  do.  He  then  dictated  to  me  another 
resolution,  and  in  three  or  four  minutes  had  persuaded 
everybody  in  the  room  that  that  was  the  right  thing  to  adopt. 
In  ten  minutes  or  a  quarter  of  an  hour  the  Committee  broke 
up.  I  was  astonished  at  the  influence  he  possessed  over  a 
number  of  experts,  all  of  intelligence  well  above  the  average, 
and  at  the  clear-headedness  of  the  man.  As  the  chairman  of 
the  Committee  remained  behind  I  asked  him,  "  Who  is  Mr. 
Field  ?  " 

"  Why  do  you  ask  ?  " 

"  Because  I  never  met  a  man  who  seemed  to  have  such 
influence  upon  his  fellow-men." 

The  Chairman  said,  "  You  are  quite  right.  I  never 
understood  how  Oliver  became  Protector  of  the  Common- 
wealth of  England  until  I  met  Edwin  Field,  and  he  is 
Cromwell's  direct  descendant." 

The  financial  difficulties  as  to  the  erection  of  the  Law 
Courts  were  overcome.  Half  a  dozen  sets  of  plans  were 
provided  at  public  expense  and  exhibited  in  sheds  con- 
structed for  the  purpose  in  Lincoln's  Inn.    An  excellent 


EGYPT  loi 

Committee  made  a  selection  from  them,  and  chose  that  of 
Mr.  Street.  The  building,  however,  was  not  constructed 
after  Mr.  Street's  designs.  Mr.  Ay  ton,  the  Member,  I  think, 
for  the  Tower  Hamlets,  who  prided  himself  upon  his  strict 
regard  for  economy,  called  on  Mr.  Street  and  told  him  that 
he  must  cut  the  expenses  down  considerably.  This 
could  only  be  done  by  altering  the  central  hall.  Such  hall 
was  really  the  culmination,  artistically,  of  the  group  of 
buildings.  Had  it  been  allowed  to  remain,  the  Law  Courts 
would  have  been  the  most  conspicuous  and  magnificent  work 
of  Gothic  art  which  London  possesses.  The  cry  of  economy 
in  such  a  case  was  futile.  Money  was  not  taken  out  of 
anybody's  pocket,  and  so  a  unique  opportunity  of  adorning 
London  was  lost  through  Mr.  Ay  ton's  desire  to  gain  credit  for 
economy.  It  was  not  even  a  case  of  pandering  to  a  popular 
cry,  because  no  such  outcry  existed. 

In  the  year  before  I  left  London  for  Constantinople,  I 
edited  the  Law  Magazine,  and  in  order  to  give  an  account  of 
the  Law  Courts,  which  were  then  in  course  of  construction, 
I  went  to  see  Mr.  Street.  He  stated  plainly  that  his  plans 
had  been  ruined  by  Mr.  Ayton,  but  that  he  could  not  afford 
to  lose  his  commission  on  the  work.  I  sympathised  with  his 
bitterness. 


CHAPTER  IX 


ABDUL  HAMID 


The  Sultan's  Superstition — ^Abdul  Hamid's  Hostility 
to  Armenians — ^The  Turkish  Law  of  Succession — Its 
Disadvantages — ^Abdul  Hamid's  Upbringing — ^A  Narrow 
Environment — ^The  Fleet  Neglected — ^Abdul  Hamid's 
Sensitiveness  to  Criticism — An  Unofficial  Censorship — 
A  Continuous  Foreign  Policy — An  Avengement  for  the 
Evacuation  of  Egypt — ^The  Sultan  Refuses  His  Consent 
— Lord  Salisbury's  Rejoinder — A  Prosperous  Egypt — 
Izzet  Pasha — ^The  Two  Secretaries — ^Belief  in  Astrologers 
— ^The  Tabah  Affair — ^The  Sultan's  "  Diplomatic  Vic- 
tory " — ^A  Suspicious  Monarch — An  Elaborate  Spying 
System — Blackmail — ^The  Censors  Regard  Me  as  In- 
corrigible— I  am  Threatened  with  Expulsion — Turkish 
"  Decorations  " — ^A  Clever  Fraud. 

LORD  DUFFERIN  was  appointed  Viceroy  of  India 
in  September,  1884.  As  for  some  time  previous  to 
his  departure,  and  afterwards,  there  were  no 
specially  burning  questions  between  Turkey  and  the  other 
Powers,  this  is  a  convenient  place  to  speak  of  the  Sultan. 
When  I  arrived  in  the  country  Abdul  Aziz  was  on  the  throne. 
He  was  a  harmless  sort  of  Eastern  sovereign,  who  was  not 
generally  disliked  by  his  subjects,  and  who  probably  thought 
of  his  own  pleasures  more  than  anything  else.  His  hobby 
was  building.  The  beautiful  palace  of  Dolma  Bagsche, 
about  two  miles  from  Seraglio  Point  and  one  of  the  most 
conspicuous  objects  on  the  Bosporus,  was  completed  in  his 
reign.  It  was  rumoured  that  the  Sultan  was  unwilUng  to 
occupy  it  on  account  of  some  superstitious  fear.  The  palace 
of  Cheragan,  which  nearly  adjoins  it,  also  on  the  Bosporus, 
was^  already  constructed. 

X02 


ABDUL  HAMID  103 

The  beautiful  smaller  palaces  at  Begler  Bey,  which  had 
been  used  as  the  residence  of  the  Empress  Eugenie  previous 
to  my  going  to  Constantinople,  another  at  Beikos,  and  one  at 
the  Sweet  Waters  of  Europe  were  the  principal.  In  addition 
he  had  proposed  to  build  a  magnificent  mosque  on  a  prom- 
inent site  at  the  back  of  Dolma  Bagsche,  and  at  his  death 
the  foundations  had  been  everywhere  laid  and  the  external 
walls  run  up  to  a  height  of  about  ten  feet.  It  is  a  super- 
stition among  the  Turks  that  no  Sultan  should  complete  a 
building  commenced  by  his  predecessor.  The  result  is  that 
to  this  hour  the  remains  of  the  intended  mosque  look  like 
a  superb  ruin. 

Public  opinion  in  Turkey  could  hardly  be  said  at  any  time 
to  have  existed  outside  Constantinople.  But  in  that  city 
there  was  a  strong  party  opposed  to  the  Sultan  on  account  of 
his  extravagance,  and  the  show  of  palaces  was  the  ever- 
present  evidence  of  his  failing.  There  was  also  a  small 
group  of  men  who  wished  to  transform  the  absolutism  of 
the  Government  into  a  limited  monarchy,  and  to  establish  a 
Constitution.  Amongst  them  Midhat  Pasha  was  the  leader. 
They  succeeded  in  bringing  about  the  revolution  which  placed 
Murad  on  the  throne,  which  deposed  him  and  appointed 
Abdul  Hamid  as  his  successor.  It  was  not  a  military 
revolution,  and  though  both  soldiers  and  sailors  took  part  in 
it,  the  movement  was  as  spontaneous  as  such  a  change  could 
be.  After  the  short  attempt  at  parliamentary  government 
and  the  packing  off  of  the  members  from  the  capital.  Sultan 
Abdul  Hamid  soon  showed  himself  bitterly  hostile  to  all 
projects  of  parliamentary  government,  or  to  anything  which 
should  tend  to  diminish  his  absolute  power.  He  is  a  man 
of  a  certain  amount  of  cunning,  but  also  of  a  meanness  of 
character  which  is  not  Turkish.  He  was  often  spoken  of 
as  an  Armenian  or  a  half  Armenian,  and  as  these  epithets 
undoubtedly  came  to  his  ears,  they  are  probably  one  of 
the  reasons  which  caused  him  to  become  bitterly  hostile 
to  the  Armenian  race. 

The  moderate  party  amongst  the  Turks,  reasonable  men, 
even  those,  who  wished  the  government  to  be  conducted  on  the 


104       FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

old  lines  and  to  be  reformed  quietly  upon  such  lines,  never 
had  a  hearing  from  him.  They  soon  learned  to  distrust  him, 
and  he  on  his  part  became  surrounded  either  by  sycophants, 
working  to  fill  their  own  pockets,  or  by  unscrupulous 
adventurers.  He  had  begun  by  believing  that  he  was 
surrounded  by  enemies,  and  he  ended  by  a  general  distrust  of 
everybody  with  whom  he  came  in  contact,  and  with  the 
conviction  that  he  alone  knew  how  to  govern  the  country. 
Gradually  we  learned  that  the  chief  weapon  for  his  own 
defence  was  a  system  of  espionage  which,  limited  at  first 
to  men  in  office,  was  gradually  extended  to  comprise  almost 
everybody  of  note  in  the  country. 

His  surroundings  had  never  been  favourable  to  man- 
liness or  to  the  development  of  the  talents  required  by 
a  successful  ruler.  In  this  he  was  subject  to  the  same 
disabilities  that  for  upwards  of  three  centuries  have  al- 
ways weighed  upon  heirs  to  the  Turkish  throne.  They 
are  largely  the  results  of  the  Turkish  law  of  succession. 
Instead  of  following  the  European  rule,  the  Crown 
Prince  as  already  mentioned  is  the  eldest  surviving  male 
member  belonging  to  the  Imperial  family.  If  one  thinks 
for  a  moment  of  the  European  method  we  recognise  at  once 
how  superior  it  is  to  the  Turkish.  King  Edward  VII., 
during  many  years  before  his  mother's  death,  had 
taken  over  a  great  number  of  public  functions  which  other- 
wise would  have  fallen  to  the  sovereign.  Besides  attending 
one  of  the  Houses  of  ParUament  on  important  discussions, 
he  had  the  advantage  of  meeting  the  great  statesmen 
belonging  to  both  sides  of  the  House.  The  same  remark 
applies  to  our  present  King.  He  has  served  in  the  Navy 
and  has  mixed  with  all  classes  of  eminent  men,  poUticians 
Liberal  and  Conservative,  Ambassadors  of  other  Powers, 
distinguished  divines,  judges  and  literary  men.  For  educa- 
tion in  kingcraft  one  could  not  devise  a  superior  method. 

The  occupant  of  the  throne  in  Turkey,  and  especially 
perhaps  the  mother  of  such  occupant,  desires  that  her  son 
shall  succeed.  But  in  front  of  him  there  will  probably 
stand  half  a  dozen  members  of  the  family  who  are  his 


ABDUL  HAMID  105 

seniors.  Fourteen  such  members  ranked  before  the  present 
Sultan  Mahomet  V.  and  the  eldest  son  of  the  deposed  Murad. 
A  century  and  a  half  ago  children  of  the  Royal  family  who 
were  likely  to  stand  in  the  way  of  a  succession  were  often 
murdered,  and  some  of  the  most  pathetic  passages  in 
Turkish  history  relate  to  the  intrigues  which  took  place 
either  to  kill  the  heir  to  the  throne,  or  to  prevent  an  infant 
attaining  to  that  position.  The  reigning  sovereign  has 
usually  regarded  the  Crown  Prince  with  suspicion,  and  has 
prevented  him  becoming  acquainted  with  the  Ministers  or 
having  any  but  strictly  formal  communication  with  the 
representatives  of  foreign  states. 

It  was  under  this  system  that  Abdul  Hamid  had  been 
brought  up.  He  was  never  allowed  to  see  foreign  Ambassa- 
dors or  to  take  any  part  in  discussing  the  affairs  of  the 
empire.  His  youthful  want  of  training  and  his  limited 
environment  give  the  key  to  his  subsequent  characteristics, 
unconsidered  action,  and  above  all,  suspicion.  When  on  the 
(ieposition  of  Murad,  Abdul  Hamid  was  girded  with  the  sword 
of  Osman,  he  was  the  nominee  of  the  party  which  had 
brought  about  two  revolutions.  That  party  had  great 
hopes  in  him  and  his  pliability.  They  were  soon  undeceived. 
Every  month  saw  an  increase  of  the  personal  influence  of 
the  Sultan.  After  the  failure  of  the  Conference  in  January, 
1877,  England  and  Russia  still  endeavoured  to  make  terms 
with  him  by  which  war  would  be  prevented.  He,  however, 
was  the  great  obstacle. 

When  during  the  war,  on  December  10,  Plevna  fell  and  the 
Russian  troops  poured  across  the  Balkans,  Abdul  Hamid 
tried  to  prevent  their  advance  by  sending  messengers  to 
treat  for  peace  and  leaving  them  without  any  powers  to 
treat.  When  this  childish  ruse  failed  he  became  alarmed 
for  his  personal  safety  and  proposed  to  seek  safety  by 
flight  to  Brusa.  Indeed  it  was  only  on  the  earnest  pro- 
testations of  Sir  Henry  Layard  that  he  was  persuaded  not 
to  flee.  Sir  Henry  telling  him  that  if  he  deserted  his  post 
he  would  never  be  allowed  to  return.  On  neither  of  these 
occasions  did  Abdul  shew  statesmanship. 


io6       FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

From  that  time  the  Sultan  turned  his  attention  to  remov- 
ing from  the  capital  all  who  had  aided  in  placing  him  on 
the  throne,  with  one  exception.  The  exception  was  the 
Minister  of  Marine,  who  lived  on  and  retained  his  office 
until  his  death  in  1902.  It  was  only  towards  the  end  of  his 
life  that  I  met  with  him,  but  he  had  the  reputation  of  being 
a  brave,  bluff  sailor  who  feared  neither  the  Sultan  nor  any- 
body else.  When  he  was  reproached  by  Abdul  for  having 
pocketed  £200,000  in  one  operation,  he  corrected  his 
imperial  master  by  saying  that  it  was  £300,000.  None  of 
us  could  understand  why  amidst  the  dismissal  of  so  many 
Ministers,  and  of  everybody  connected  with  the  deposition 
of  his  predecessors,  Abdul  Hamid  did  not  get  rid  of  the 
Minister  of  Marine.  It  was  in  vain  that,  in  the  long  interval 
between  1876  and  1902,  everyone  knew  that  the  fleet  had 
been  allowed  to  rot  and  rust,  and  that  with  one  insignificant 
exception  none  of  the  really  magnificent  ironclads  which 
the  Sultan  had  found  on  his  accession  ever  went  out  of  the 
harbour  of  the  Golden  Horn. 

Everyone  saw  that  the  naval  school  languished  ;  though 
torpedo  boats  and  new  ironclads  had  been  bought.  They 
knew  that  the  Minister  was  currently  reported  to  do  nothing 
unless  he  were  heavily  bribed,  but  throughout  these  long 
years  Abdul  Hamid  retained  him  at  his  post.  His  per- 
sistence led  to  a  legend  that  the  Minister  held  a  docmnent 
which  the  Sultan  had  signed  at  his  accession  and  on  the 
demand  of  the  conspirators,  to  the  effect  that  if  the  deposed 
Murad  recovered,  he,  Abdul  Hamid,  would  abdicate  in  his 
favour.  Such  document  was  alleged  to  have  been  sent  to 
some  place  in  Western  Europe  for  safe  keeping,  with  in- 
structions that  it  should  be  published  in  case  of  the  Minister's 
death  by  violence.  Whether  the  story  is  true  or  not  I 
cannot  say,  but,  like  the  Father  of  History,  I  add  "  they  say 
so. 

I  have  already  told  the  story  of  how  Midhat  was  brought 
to  Constantinople  on  the  charge  against  him  of  having 
been  a  principal  party  in  the  murder  of  Abdul  Aziz,  and  I 
have  expressed  my  opinion,  as  did  Sir  Henry  EUiot,  Dr. 


ABDUL  HAMID  107 

Dickson,  with  the  other  eighteen  doctors  who  examined 
the  body,  that  the  case  was  one  of  suicide  and  not  of 
murder.  The  verdict  of  the  Turkish  court,  deUvered  in 
June,  1881,  proves  nothing.  I  followed  the  evidence  day 
by  day  and  my  verdict  would  have  been  "  Not  guilty." 
Possibly  a  verdict  of  "  Not  proven "  would  have  ex- 
pressed more  accurately  the  general  opinion.  Sir  Henry 
Elliot  wrote  an  article  on  the  subject  in  the  Nineteenth 
Century,  in  which  he  maintained  that  the  evidence  shewed 
the  death  to  be  by  suicide,  and  characterised  the  action  of 
Abdul  Hamid  as  the  blackest  spot  in  the  record  of  his  reign. 

An  incident  occurred  to  me  in  connection  with  this  which 
is  worth  relating.  Sir  Henry  Elliot's  article  had  infuriated 
Abdul  Hamid.  Then,  as  always  during  his  reign,  he  was 
keenly  sensitive  to  what  was  said  about  him  in  influential 
Western  publications.  I  wrote  a  long  letter  on  the  subject 
of  the  death  of  Abdul  Aziz  and  on  Sir  Henry  Elliot's  article. 
The  day  after  it  was  posted  at  the  British  post-office.  Sir 
William  White,  then  Ambassador,  informed  me  as  a  matter 
of  great  urgency  that  the  Sultan  had  learned  that  I 
had  written  on  the  subject  to  the  Daily  News,  and 
Sir  William  intimated  that  in  the  then  condition  of 
negotiations  between  Great  Britain  and  the  Porte  it  was 
inopportune  to  say  anything  which  would  increase  the 
irritation  of  the  Sultan.  I  telegraphed  to  Sir  John  Robinson 
to  withhold  the  letter  until  he  heard  from  me.  This  he  did, 
and  concluded  that  on  the  whole  it  was  better  not  to  publish 
it.  The  question,  however,  puzzled  Sir  William  White,  and 
still  more  me,  as  to  how  the  Sultan  had  learned  that  I  had 
written.  I  was  confident  that  no  one  could  have  seen  my 
letter  before  it  was  posted,  and  I  knew  that  I  had  not  spoken 
to  anyone  about  it.  The  mystery  was  not  cleared  up  for 
some  months,  when  it  was  found  that  the  British  postal-bag 
was  regularly  opened  by  Turkish  spies  between  Constan- 
tinople and  Bulgaria.  Means  were  taken  to  prevent  any- 
thing of  the  kind  happening  in  future. 

Several  attempts,  mostly  of  a  very  foolish  kind,  were 
made  by  adherents  of  the  Midhat  party  to  get  rid  of  the 


I08       FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

Sultan.  Abdul  Hamid  succeeded  in  repressing  all  move- 
ments among  the  Turks  in  favour  of  reform  and  in  getting 
rid  of  the  would-be  reformers.  One  of  the  most  important 
of  such  movements  was  by  Ali  Suavi,  and  when  he,  with  a 
few  followers,  attempted  to  create  a  new  revolution  at  the 
palace,  they  were  simply  killed  off  and  nothing  was  allowed 
to  be  said  of  the  matter  in  the  newspapers.  The  new 
Ministers  were  mostly  subservient  creatures  who  held  office 
only  so  long  as  they  were  ready  to  acquiesce  without  dis- 
cussion in  the  Sultan's  wishes.  The  sub-Ministers  were 
usually  chosen  because  they  were  known  to  be  hostile  to 
the  Ministers.  The  Sultan  had,  in  fact,  succeeded  in  his  aim 
of  making  himself  an  absolute  ruler,  and  when  in  the  latter 
portion  of  his  life  Ministers  are  spoken  of,  it  is  well  to 
remember  that  the  real  actor  was  Abdul  Hamid  himself. 
He  had  become  jealous  and  distrustful  of  everyone  who  did 
not  give  him  an  uncompromising  support.  The  late 
Arminius  Vambery,  in  his  singularly  interesting  biography, 
calls  attention  to  this  phase  of  Abdul  Hamid's  character. 
He  points  out  that  although  both  Sir  Henry  Elliot  and  Sir 
Henry  Layard  were  sincerely  disposed  to  befriend  Turkey 
and  its  ruler,  Abdul  Hamid  came  to  hate  them  and  to 
consider  them  as  amongst  his  worst  enemies. 

A  further  illustration  of  the  same  distrust  of  those  disposed 
to  befriend  Turkey  was  furnished  in  the  autumn  of  1886, 
during  the  visit  of  Sir  Henry  Drummond  Wolff.  Mr. 
Gladstone  had  always  maintained  that  the  British  occupation 
of  Egypt  was  not  intended  to  be  permanent,  and  had  made 
various  declarations  to  this  effect  in  the  House  of  Commons. 
He  remained  loyal  to  the  conviction  which  was  the  central 
idea  of  England  during  the  Crimean  war,  that  it  was  in  the 
interest  of  England  to  maintain  the  integrity  and  indepen- 
dence of  the  Turkish  Empire.  It  was  a  real  disappointment 
to  him  that  the  Sultan  would  not  accept  the  invitation  to 
send  troops  to  accompany  our  army  into  Egypt  when  Lord 
Dufferin  had  submitted  an  offer  to  that  effect.  The  troops 
were  wanted  more  as  a  symbol  of  Turkish  authority  than 
for  any  assistance  they  could  render,  and  if  the  Sultan  had 


ABDUL  HAMID  109 

had  half  the  shrewdness  with  which  his  flatterers  credited 
him,  he  would  gladly  have  accepted  the  invitation. 

When  the  Conservatives  came  into  power  Lord  Salisbury, 
between  whom  and  Mr.  Gladstone  I  suspect  there  was  Uttle 
difference  of  opinion  on  foreign  affairs,  renewed  the  declara- 
tions that  our  occupation  of  Egypt  was  only  temporary, 
and,  as  a  result,  sent  out  Sir  Henry  Drummond  Wolff  to 
arrange  the  conditions  under  which  the  evacuation  should  be 
accomplished.  I  saw  Sir  Henry  every  two  or  three  days, 
and  followed  the  work  which  he  had  in  hand.  He  did  it 
extremely  well.  He  took  Turkish  delays  and  changes  of 
attitude  very  coolly  and  yet  succeeded  after  about  two 
months  in  coming  to  an  arrangement  by  which  the  last 
soldier  was  to  leave  Egypt  within  seven  years  after  the 
confirmation  of  the  arrangement,  with  the  condition  that  in 
case  reoccupation  became  necessary,  British  troops  and 
not  others  should  be  called  in  to  the  aid  of  the  Sultan.  The 
arrangement  was  signed  by  Sir  Drummond  Wolff  and  the 
Grand  Vizier,  ne  varietur,  and  everybody  in  Constantinople 
thought  that  the  business  was  practically  finished.  Of  course 
Lord  Salisbury  accepted  it  at  once  on  behalf  of  Her  Majesty. 

To  the  surprise  of  everybody  Abdul  Hamid  refused  to 
consent.  I  never  heard  any  other  reason  given  for  such 
refusal  except  the  desire  of  Abdul  Hamid  to  administer  a 
rebuff  to  England.  As  we  were  still  in  the  period  of  pin- 
pricks, it  is  not  improbable  that  he  was  led  to  believe  by 
representatives  of  France  and  Russia  that  he  could  get 
better  terms,  and  that  he  had  made  a  bad  bargain.  If  this 
were  so  these  powers  were  not  playing  the  game.  But  I  am 
convinced  that  Turkish  statesmen  would  see,  in  spite  of  such 
efforts  if  they  were  made,  that  the  bargain,  so  far  as  their 
country  was  concerned,  was  pure  gain,  and  that  it  was  wise 
to  agree  that  all  our  troops  should  be  out  of  the  country 
within  seven  years. 

England  accepted  the  Sultan's  rebuff,  and  was  not  greatly 
concerned.  We  were  in  possession.  About  a  year  after- 
wards it  dawned  upon  Abdul  Hamid  that  he  had  blundered. 
He  instructed  his  Ambassador  in  London   to  see   Lord 


no       FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

Salisbury  and  ask  for  the  reopening  of  negotiations.  Lord 
Salisbury  declared  that  he  had  no  wish  for  further  negotia- 
tions, and  that  after  the  refusal  of  the  Wolff  Convention 
he  had  no  proposals  to  make.  The  answer  probably  lost 
nothing  of  its  abruptness  in  transmission,  and  greatly 
annoyed  Abdul  Hamid.  The  British  Grand  Vizier  had 
forgotten  that  the  request  came  from  the  Sultan.  The 
Turkish  Ambassador  was  ordered  peremptorily  to  demand 
the  reopening  of  the  negotiations  immediately.  It  was 
near  the  end  of  the  Parliamentary  session.  Lord  Salisbury 
repUed  that  he  was  tired  and  moreover  had  made  arrange- 
ments to  go  abroad,  and  the  Egyptian  question,  which  was 
not  pressing,  would  perfectly  well  keep,  and  it  had  to  keep. 

The  Egyptian  question  gave  very  Httle  trouble  for  several 
years.  The  Wolff  Convention  became  a  dead  letter.  But 
the  period  of  pin- pricks  between  England  and  France 
regarding  Egypt  continued.  Diuing  its  continuance, 
however,  France  and  Italy  came  to  an  arrangement  in 
reference  to  Tunis,  in  1896,  when  France  annexed  the 
country.  It  was  then  currently  reported  among  diplo- 
matists that  an  understanding  had  been  arrived  at,  sub- 
stantially to  the  effect  that  France  would  make  no  further 
difficulties  about  our  occupation  of  Egypt,  and  we  should 
make  none  about  Tunis. 

The  loss  of  his  influence  in  Egypt  was  felt  by  the  Sultan 
more  perhaps  than  that  of  the  countries  he  lost  during  the 
Turco-Russian  war.  Egypt  was  a  Moslem  country,  whereas 
Bulgaria,  Rimaania,  and  the  neighbourhood  of  Batoum  were 
largely  Christian.  Abdul  Hamid  had  a  special  represen- 
tative in  Egypt,  Mukhtar  Pasha,  who  regularly  reported  what 
the  British  were  doing.  The  troubles  with  the  Mahdi 
raised  a  hope  in  the  Sultan's  mind  that  the  invaders  had 
taken  in  hand  more  than  they  could  accomplish  ;  but  later 
he  recognised  his  mistake.  Meantime  every  month  of  our 
occupation  brought  word  of  the  wonderful  material  progress 
of  Egypt.  Public  works  which  had  been  dreamed  of  were 
actually  executed.  The  people  were  more  Hghtly  taxed 
than  ever  and  yet  the  revenue  increased.     Justice  was  not 


ABDUL  HAMID  iii 

only  to  be  had  in  the  Courts  of  the  Reform,  as  those  which 
had  been  estabHshed  were  and  are  called,  but  the  people 
were  beginning  to  believe  in  such  a  possibility.  An  impor- 
tant emigration  largely  consisting  of  Moslems,  mostly 
Druses,  set  in  steadily  from  Syria  to  Egypt. 

Sultan  Abdul  Hamid  was,  however,  always  endeavouring 
to  encroach  upon  the  EngUsh  domination  in  Egypt,  and  in 
1906  there  occurred  the  Tabah  incident.  A  railway  had 
been  constructed  from  Damascus  parallel  to  the  shores  of  the 
Red  Sea,  with  the  intention  of  taking  it  to  the  sacred  cities 
Medina  and  Mecca. 

This  was  a  favourite  project  of  Abdul  Hamid,  which  was 
really  taken  in  hand  with  his  permission  by  Izzet  Pasha,  of 
whom  something  must  be  said.  He  was  an  Arab  by  origin, 
of  marked  ability  and  of  great  ambition.  One  of  his  col- 
leagues, when  he  was  judge  in  Macedonia,  informed  me 
many  years  ago  that  Izzet  had  told  him  that  if  he  could  get 
to  Constantinople  he  would  aim  at  getting  into  the  palace, 
and  felt  confident  not  only  that  he  could  accomplish  this, 
but  that  he  would  be  able  to  exercise  great  influence  over 
Abdul  Hamid.  When  I  first  made  his  acquaintance  he  was 
First  President  of  the  Commercial  Court,  or  Tidjaret,  as  it  is 
called.  I  argued  many  cases  before  him  and  found  him  an 
able  judge  who  could  get  to  the  point  of  an  argument  with 
unusual  celerity. 

At  last  his  opportunity  came.  He  was  called  to  the 
palace,  and  for  some  years  before  the  Revolution  of  July, 
1908,  was  His  Majesty's  Chief  Secretary.  Indeed  it  was 
commonly  said  that  the  palace  was  run  by  two  men,  Izzet 
Pasha  and  Tachsin  Bey.  They  could  obtain  the  Sultan's 
consent  to  any  concession  or  to  any  appointment  to  be  made 
upon  which  they  were  agreed.  I  think  that  on  the  whole 
observers  who  knew  what  was  going  on  in  the  palace 
recognised  that  Izzet 's  rule  was  beneficial.  It  was  commonly 
reported  that  both  he  and  Ms  colleague  were  in  the  pay  of 
the  Germans.  But  as  to  this  I  would  remark  in  fairness  that 
report  would  have  said  the  same  about  any  men  in  their 
positions,  and  that  while  it  was  notorious  that  for  the 


112       FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

purposes  of  the  Bagdad  Railway  and  for  other  concessions 
the  Germans  paid  heavily,  I  am  not  in  a  position  to  point 
out  who  the  individuals  were  who  received  cash. 

When  the  two  Secretaries  did  not  agree  upon  a  project 
submitted  to  them,  it  usually  fell  through,  because  each  was 
powerful  enough  to  prevent  the  success  of  the  other.  A  case 
which  created  considerable  interest  regarded  the  appoint- 
ment of  a  Grand  Vizier.  Izzet  proposed  one  man,  his 
colleague  another.  Neither  would  give  way.  They  finally 
agreed  to  recommend  Ferid,  then  the  Vali  or  Governor  of 
Konia,  under  the  belief  that  when  the  time  came  they  could 
get  rid  of  him  and  appoint  someone  in  his  place.  This  plan 
was  carried  out.  A  Greek  by  race,  but  a  Moslem,  Raghib, 
who  had  made  a  fortune  by  acting  as  adviser  to  His  Majesty, 
when  he  heard  of  the  probability  of  the  appointment  of 
Ferid  is  reported  to  have  written  to  his  imperial  master 
strongly  dissuading  him  from  making  it  and  declaring  that 
if  Ferid  were  made  Grand  Vizier,  within  a  year  the 
new  premier  would  have  acquired  the  friendship  of  every 
ambassador  in  the  place,  and  His  Majesty  would  be  unable  to 
get  rid  of  him.  Nevertheless  Ferid  was  appointed.  The 
new  Grand  Vizier,  who  had  proved  his  capacity  as  a  Governor 
while  at  Konia,  shewed  a  like  capacity  in  Constantinople,  and 
continued  in  his  office  until  the  Revolution  of  July,  1908, 
during  which  he  so  conducted  himself  as  not  to  lose  the 
confidence  either  of  the  Sultan  or  of  the  committee  of 
Union  and  Progress. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  believe  all  the  stories  told  of  Izzet, 
but  one  is  at  least  amusing.  The  Sultan,  after  the  manner 
of  his  predecessors,  always  had  an  astrologer.  As  to 
astrologers,  let  me  interject  that  there  is  a  very  curious 
account  given  in  The  Life  of  Sir  Thomas  Roe,  English  Am- 
bassador in  the  seventeenth  century,  of  the  demand  made 
upon  him  by  the  Sultan  to  send  him  English  books  on 
astrology.  He  explains  in  his  dispatch  that  the  Turks  are 
convinced  that  the  prosperity  of  the  Western  countries  of 
Europe  is  due  largely  to  their  knowledge  of  that  subject.  It 
was  in  vain  that  Sir  Thomas  had  told  them  that  English 


ABDUL  HAMID  113 

people  did  not  believe  in  astrology.  He  saw  from  the  way  in 
which  his  remarks  were  received  that  they  believed  he  was 
merely  manoeuvring  to  keep  them  out  of  the  knowledge  that 
his  countrymen  possessed,  and  therefore  asked  that  all  the 
books  they  could  find  on  the  subject  should  be  gathered  up 
and  sent  to  him. 

The  repute  of  these  astrologers  is  still  great  in  Turkey. 
Both  men  and  women  practise  the  art.  The  reading  of  the 
stars,  supported  by  the  indications  of  the  marks  on  the  hands, 
and  of  incidents  in  a  person's  life,  are  beheved  always  if 
rightly  interpreted  to  give  sure  predictions.  But  the 
palace  astrologer  has  usually  held  a  highly  trusted  position. 
The  one  who  occupied  the  post  when  the  Revolution  of 
1908  came  about  was  reported  to  be  on  the  most  intimate 
terms  with  Izzet,  and  the  story  was  current  that  the  latter 
received  telegrams  daily  of  all  important  events  happening 
in  the  Empire.  Whether,  as  the  report  added,  these  were 
privately  shewn  to  the  astrologer  and  predictions  made  in 
accordance  therewith,  the  telegrams  being  retained  until  the 
next  day,  is  more  than  I  can  vouch  for. 

When  Izzet  saw  that  his  imperial  master  attached  great 
importance  to  a  railway  to  convey  pilgrims  to  the  sacred 
cities,  he  joined  heartily  in  the  project.  I  doubt  whether 
anybody  ever  considered  him  a  particularly  good  Moslem, 
but  he  was  a  Syrian,  and  appears  to  have  worked  cordially  at 
the  project  of  making  the  Hedjaz  Railway,  which  would  at 
least  benefit  the  Syrians. 

In  1906  the  railway  was  used  as  a  means  of  annoyance  to 
England  in  Egypt.  A  small  body  of  Tmrkish  troops  was 
sent  down  south  from  Damascus,  and  occupied  the  small 
village  of  Tabah  on  the  western  side  of  the  Gulf  of  Akaba,  one 
of  the  two  which  form  a  fork  at  the  northern  end  of  the  Red 
Sea.  The  village  is  on  Egyptian  territory,  and  south  of  the 
boundary  line  between  Turkey  and  Egypt,  which  runs  from 
Akaba  to  Rafia,  a  point  a  little  to  the  north  of  El  Arish  on  the 
Mediterranean.  Tabah  was  so  evidently  on  Egyptian  terri- 
tory that  the  British  Government  was  confident  that  its 
occupation  was  a  simple  blunder,  and  that  the  Turks  would 

I 


114       FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

clear  out  as  soon  as  they  had  time  to  examine  the  position. 

Up  to  the  time  of  these  negotiations  they  had  never 
officially  recognised  that  we  were  in  occupation  of  Egypt  and 
had  the  right  to  act  for  her.  Three  months  passed  in 
negotiations.  Sir  Nicholas  O'Conor  was  wonderfully  patient. 
But  it  was  only  on  the  assembly  of  our  Mediterranean  Fleet 
at  the  Piraeus  that  Abdul  Hamid  consented  to  yield  to 
what  his  own  Ministers  recognised  as  a  just  claim.  Sir 
Nicholas  acted  with  caution  and  vigour.  In  May  the  British 
Government  gave  the  Turks  ten  days'  notice  to  evacuate 
Tabah,  and  to  appoint  a  coromission  of  Egyptians  and  Turks 
to  draw  the  boundary  line  between  the  points  already 
mentioned.  Finally,  ten  hours  after  the  time  which  had 
been  given  in  which  to  clear  out,  Abdul  Hamid  acceded  to  all 
the  British  demands.  It  was  the  first  occasion  on  which 
England's  right  to  act  for  Egypt  was  officially  recognised  by 
Turkey.     Sir  Nicholas  had  scored  a  diplomatic  victory. 

Abdul  Hamid's  reign  continued  to  be  one  long  attempt  to 
make  himself  absolute.  I  cannot  accept  the  statement 
which  has  often  been  made,  that  he  was  a  man  of  statesman- 
like mind.  He  had  no  sense  of  proportion.  Small  matters 
to  him  were  as  important  as  big  ones.  The  delay  of  ten  hours 
in  quitting  'Egyptian  territory  he  regarded  as  a  triimiph. 
From  the  earliest  period  of  his  reign  to  his  last  years  as  Sultan 
this  characteristic  pettiness  marked  him.  Sir  Henry  Layard 
told  me  the  story  of  his  going  one  morning  to  the  palace 
in  the  early  part  of  his  career  as  Ambassador,  while  yet  a 
great  favourite  there,  and,  finding  the  Sultan  looking 
wearied  and  worn  out.  Sir  Henry  remarked  to  him  that  he 
seemed  tired.  "  Yes,"  said  His  Majesty,  "  I  am  very  tired." 
As  at  that  time  there  was  no  important  poUtical  question 
under  consideration.  Sir  Henry  asked,  in  reply  to  the  state- 
ment that  he  had  been  occupied  for  some  hours  with  the 
papers  before  him,  to  what  they  related.  The  answer  was 
that  they  were  the  reglement  or  regulations  of  the  Caf6s 
Chantantes  at  Pera.  "  But,"  said  Layard,  "  in  England 
neither  the  Sovereign  nor  any  of  his  Ministers  would  trouble 
themselves  with  a  personal  examination  of  such  a  document. 


ABDUL  HAMID  115 

It  would  be  left  to  responsible  clerks."  The  Sultan's  reply 
was  that  he  had  nobody  that  he  could  trust.  This  sentiment 
gives  the  key  to  much  of  his  conduct.  He  trusted  nobody, 
was  suspicious  of  everybody.  He  believed  that  everybody 
had  his  price,  and  that  he  was  sufficiently  clever  to  ap- 
preciate their  price,  and  obtain  the  results  which  he  desiredj 

Every  year  he  became  more  suspicious.  His  belief  that 
no  one  ought  to  be  trusted  but  that  all  men  could  be  bought 
marked  his  dealings  with  the  Press.  There  was  not  a  news- 
paper in  Constantinople  during  the  period  before  the 
Revolution  of  1908  that  was  not  subsidised  by  the  State. 
There  was  a  censorate  to  examine  everything  that  went 
into  the  newspapers.  If  a  newspaper  offended,  it  was 
either  suspended  for  a  given  term  or  suppressed  alto- 
gether. The  system  was  an  absurd  one,  because  some- 
times it  was  convenient  to  be  suspended,  and  newspapers 
occasionally  inserted  an  article  for  which  they  knew  they 
would  be  able  to  obtain  a  holiday  of  a  few  days  or  weeks. 
If  they  really  wished  to  say  something  which  would  offend 
the  Government  and  yet  did  not  wish  to  be  suppressed,  the 
article  would  be  inserted,  the  paper  suspended  or  suppressed, 
and  then  the  proprietor  would  produce  the  same  newspaper 
under  another  name,  which  everybody  recognised  as  the 
continuation  of  the  one  suspended. 

The  Levant  Herald  on  various  occasions  was  suppressed 
and  came  out  as  the  Eastern  Express.  On  one  occasion 
Mr.  Whittaker,  the  editor  and  proprietor,  during  a  period 
of  suppression  produced  his  Epistle  to  the  Galatians,  for  which 
he  claimed  that  he  did  not  require  any  Government  per- 
mission. He  often  led  the  censor  and  the  Government  a 
fine  dance  with  his  paper.  He  would  print  three  lines  and 
leave  a  blank  colimin  with  a  statement  that  on  the  subject 
at  the  head  of  the  chapter  he  had  written  fully,  but  as  it  had 
been  suppressed  he  left  the  space. 

Nothing  was  allowed  to  be  reproduced  from  a  paper 
published  outside  Turkey,  unless  it  had  been  approved  by 
the  censor.  The  tales  that  were  told  as  to  the  tricks  played 
upon  the  Sultan  with  reference  to  foreign  papers  are  legion. 


ii6  FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 
A  man  in  France  would  get  set  up  in  type  an  article  either 
abusing  the  Sultan  personally  or  pointing  out  the  folly  of 
Turkish  foreign  policy.  It  would  be  sent  to  some  friend  in 
Turkey  to  present  at  the  Press  Department,  or  sometimes 
even  to  some  of  the  Ministers,  with  the  notification  that  it 
was  the  proof  which  was  going  to  appear  in  a  paper  and 
which  the  sender  had  managed  to  intercept  on  condition  that 
a  large  sum,  sometimes  alleged  to  be  as  high  as  £500,  were 
sent  to  the  writer.  That  a  good  deal  of  blackmail  was  thus 
levied  I  have  no  doubt.  All  sorts  of  silly  articles  in  defence 
of  Abdul  Hamid  personally  and  of  the  policy  of  the  Govern- 
ment appeared  in  French,  German,  and  Austrian  news- 
papers, which  were  evidently  paid  for  or  sent  in  hopes  of 
being  paid  for. 

The  sensitiveness  of  Abdul  Hamid  to  the  public  expres- 
sion of  opinion  can  only  be  ascribed  to  sheer  ignorance. 
There  was  little  discrimination  between  the  value  of  news- 
papers. An  article  in  the  Muddleton  Gazette  seemed 
to  him  to  be  as  important  as  one  in  the  Times.  There  were 
notoriously  men  in  Constantinople  levying  blackmail  upon 
the  Government  through  their  connection  with  small 
foreign  newspapers.  In  many  instances  such  was  the 
corruption  that  I  believe  the  officials  shared  in  the  sums 
obtained  for  the  prevention  of  articles  being  inserted,  or  for 
the  publication  of  quite  valueless  articles  in  foreign  papers. 
The  foreign  Press  was  carefully  watched  by  two  sets  of 
censors,  one  at  the  palace,  the  other  at  the  Sublime  Porte. 
Every  item  relating  to  His  Majesty  or  to  Turkey  was  carefully 
noted,  extracts  made,  and  then  the  day's  reports  from  the 
two  sets  of  censors  were  compared.  If  either  had  missed 
an  item  an  enquiry  would  probably  lead  to  a  reprimand  or 
the  punishment  of  the  offender. 

I  claim  for  myself  that  I  constantly  exposed  abuses, 
commented  freely  on  the  conduct  of  Turkish  statesmen,  and 
had  my  say  on  the  government  of  the  country.  I  learnt 
at  an  early  daie  that  the  Daily  News,  in  which  most  of  my 
letters  appeared,  headed  the  official  black  list.  I  knew 
several  of  the  censors  who  regarded  me  as  incorrigible.    On 


ABDUL  HAMID  117 

different  occasions  one  or  other  of  them  told  me  of  passages 
which,  much  against  their  will,  they  had  to  bring  to  the 
notice  of  the  Sultan.  Very  often  their  communication 
would  be  made  with  the  remark,  "  Of  course  what  you  say 
is  true,  but  if  I  don't  report  it  and  it  should  be  reported 
by  one  of  the  staff  of  the  other  set  of  censors  I  shall  lose 
my  place." 

I  can  honestly  say  that  I  was  very  little  troubled  by  the 
censors.  Once,  and  only  once,  I  was  slightly  alarmed.  It 
was  in  my  early  days  at  Constantinople,  during  the  time  of 
the  exposure  of  the  Moslem  outrages  in  Bulgaria.  A  member 
of  the  Council  whom  I  knew  slightly  came  to  inform  me 
privately  that  the  Government  had  determined  to  expel  me, 
on  account  of  my  letters  to  the  Daily  News,  and  that  I  should 
receive  an  official  visit  to  such  effect.  At  that  time  it  did 
not  suit  my  convenience  to  be  expelled,  but  I  had  already 
learnt  that  in  dealing  with  Easterns  truthfulness  and  a  bold 
face  were  the  best  attitude  to  shew. 

When,  therefore,  the  ofl&cial  visit  was  paid,  I  had  made  up 
my  mind  what  to  do.  He  professed  great  respect  for  me  and 
declared  that  the  resolution  to  expel  me  would  have  been 
carried,  but  that  he  had  persuaded  the  Council  to  allow  the 
matter  to  stand  over  until  he  had  seen  me  and  obtained  a 
promise  that  I  would  not  again  write  anything  against  the 
Government.  I  took  him  up  when  he  concluded  by  saying 
that  he  came  as  a  friend,  and  replied,  "  If  you  are  my  friend, 
get  me  expelled."  He  expressed  his  astonishment.  "But 
why  ?  "  "I  will  tell  you  why.  I  am  now  addressing  tens  of 
thousands  of  people  through  the  Daily  News.  If  you  expel 
me  I  shall  be  in  Parliament  within  six  weeks,  and  will  then 
address  the  whole  world."  He  retiu-ned,  gave  his  report,  and 
I  never  heard  anything  more  about  being  expelled. 

Occasionally  it  happened  that  a  newspaper  proprietor 
sold  himself  to  the  devil.  It  is  only  right  to  say  that, 
speaking  generally,  such  proprietors,  who  were  mostly  also 
editors,  preserved  a  fairly  good  conscience.  In  Australia 
it  used  to  be  said  that  no  man  with  a  soul  to  be  saved  ought 
to  be  a  bullock-driver.     I  have  often  used  the  expression 


Ii8      FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

with  regard  to  editors  in  Turkey ;  and  it  is  to  their  credit 
that  they  have  managed  to  exist  and  yet  not  write  what 
they  knew  to  be  false.  There  was  a  notorious  case  some 
twelve  years  ago  of  a  scoimdrel  who  in  his  journal  praised 
Abdul  Hamid  and  the  Ministers  in  power  to  an  unlimited 
extent.  In  return  he  levied  blackmail  upon  the  leading 
members  of  both  the  Turkish  and  the  foreign  communities. 
He  did  not  hesitate  to  go  round  himself  or  send  an  employ^ 
who,  without  going  about  his  business  in  roundabout  fashion, 
would  bluntly  say  that  the  paper  in  question  was  going  to 
attack  the  person  addressed  unless  he  received  a  good  sum 
of  money.  Many  persons  gave  way  rather  than  see  them- 
selves accused  as  robbers,  as  sons  of  the  gutter,  or  as  having 
been  mixed  up  in  some  shady  business  connected  with  a 
woman.  The  man  was  quite  notoriously  making  a  living 
by  blackmailing,  but  it  was  equally  notorious  that  he  was 
protected  by  the  minions  of  the  Sultan,  and  that  legal 
proceedings  against  him  would  be  useless.  He  was  generally 
loathed  but  also  dreaded.  At  length  he  went  a  step  too  far 
and  blundered. 

In  league  with  a  creatm^e  of  his  own  kind  who  had  access 
to  the  blank  forms  of  decoration,  he  decorated  various  per- 
sons. In  order  that  the  recipient  might  have  evidence  he 
inserted  a  statement  of  the  fact  in  his  newspaper,  of  which 
he  printed  only  three  or  four  copies  containing  it,  which  he 
gave  to  the  recipient.  Some  of  the  persons  so  honoured 
were  Austrian  subjects  of  a  low  grade,  who  for  their  own 
glorification  republished  the  statement  in  local  Austrian 
papers.  The  Balplatz  called  the  attention  of  Baron 
Calice,  the  Austrian  Ambassador,  to  these  local  publi- 
cations, and  he,  nothing  doubting  of  their  veracity,  pointed 
out  to  the  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs  that  the  giving  of 
such  decorations  to  such  canaille  was  a  blunder.  Enquiry 
was  made  and  discovery  followed ;  the  dossier  was  full  of 
charges  against  the  offending  editor,  and  as  the  whole  city 
was  laughing  at  Turkish  decorations  in  consequence,  he 
was  arrested  and  thrown  into  the  conmion  Turkish  prison. 
The  satisfaction  was  general  when  it  was  announced  on  the 


ABDUL  HAMID  119 

following  day  in  the  papers  that  amongst  his  fellow  prisoners 
there  were  several  of  his  victims,  and  that  they  fell  upon 
and  nearly  killed  him. 

Abdul  Hamid  was  essentially  a  vain  man,  and  many  of 
the  stories  told  about  him  turn  upon  this  characteristic.  He 
was  fond  of  boasting  to  his  associates  of  his  influence  over 
men.  One  of  such  stories  represents  him  as  declaring  to  one 
of  his  intimates  that  he  could  move  anyone  to  tears. 
"  Watch,"  said  he,  pointing  to  a  man  who  was  approaching, 
"  watch  this  effendi."  The  Sultan  entered  at  once  into  a 
conversation  with  the  new-comer  and  after  a  few  minutes 
the  third  person  saw  that  he  was  weeping.  Thereupon  the 
Sultan  turned  to  him  and  said,  "  Did  I  not  say  I  could  do 
it?" 

I  have  denied  to  Abdul  Hamid  the  possession  of  any  gift 
of  statesmanship,  but  he  was  smart  in  repartee,  and  the 
following  illustration  is  to  the  credit  of  Abdul  Hamid's 
powers  in  that  line.  An  American  Minister,*  after  dining 
with  His  Majesty,  accompanied  him  to  a  bijou  theatre  which 
had  been  built  in  the  grounds  of  Yildiz.  The  lower  portion 
was  carefully  covered  with  tapestry  and  brocades.  The 
Sultan  was  in  a  small  gallery,  of  course  in  the  most  pro- 
minent position.  On  his  right  was  the  Minister  in  a  box 
separated  only  by  a  rail  from  that  of  His  Majesty.  The 
Minister  had  with  him  his  First  Dragoman. 

In  the  interval  between  the  acts  the  Sultan  lit  a  cigarette 
and  passed  his  box  to  the  Minister.  Then  His  Majesty 
asked,  "  How  do  you  like  oiu:  Turkish  tobacco  ?  "  Now  I 
must  mention  here  that  the  Minister  in  question  had  the 
inconvenient  habit  of  spitting  on  all  occasions  and  every- 
where, and  as  he  lit  his  cigarette  spat  over  the  edge  of  the 
box  upon  the  brocades.  The  Sultan  winced.  The  Minister 
replied  that  he  liked  Turkish  tobacco  very  well,  but  trusted 
that  His  Majesty  had  liked  the  Virginia  tobacco  of  which  he 
had  brought  him  a  specimen.   "  Yes,"  said  His  Majesty,  "  it 

*  At  the  time  of  the  story  the  U.S.A.  were  not  yet  represented 
by  an  Ambassador. 


120      FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

is  very  good,  but  I  keep  it  for  smoking  in  the  garden,  where 
I  can  spit." 

The  interview  ended,  but  the  reply  of  the  Sultan  rankled 
in  the  Minister's  mind,  and  two  days  later  he  asked  the 
Dragoman  whether  he  remembered  the  observation  and 
whether  he  thought  that  the  Sultan  applied  it  to  him.  The 
answer  was,  "  Why,  of  course ;  there  was  nobody  else  there 
who  spat."  The  only  survivor  at  the  present  moment  is  the 
Sultan  himself,  so  there  is  no  harm  in  telling  the  story. 


CHAPTER  X 

ARMINIUS  VAMBERY  AND  ABDUL  HAMID 

Pfere  Hyacinthe — ^Women  without  Souls — ^The  Khe- 
dive's Dictum — "  Free  Speech  "  in  Turkey — The 
Sultan's  Interference — Sir  Henry  Bulwer  and  Plataea 
— His  Dummy  Library — ^Arminius  Vambery — A  Chance 
Encounter — A  Polyglot  Gentleman — Vambery's  Ad- 
vice to  Abdul  Hamid — ^The  Sultan's  Anger — A  Sup- 
pressed Book — ^The  White  Slave  Traf&c — ^A  Courageous 
Enghshwoman — ^An  American's  Mistake — ^A  Splendid 
Work. 

I  HAD  an  interesting  visit  from  Monsieur  Loyson,  better 
known  to  the  British  public  as  P^re  Hyacinthe,  a 
man  who  had  a  European  reputation  fifty  years  ago. 
As  a  distinguished  preacher  he  had  attracted  great  crowds 
to  hear  him  in  Notre  Dame  at  Paris.  He  was,  however,  of 
the  modernist  school,  and  left  the  Church  of  Rome.  He  was 
well  received  by  a  select  intellectual  circle  in  England,  of 
which  perhaps  Dean  Stanley  was  the  chief.  He  informed  me, 
amongst  other  things,  that  Archbishop  Tait  had  suggested 
to  him  that  he  should  enter  the  English  Church.  But  this 
he  decUned  to  do. 

In  Alexandria,  before  he  came  to  Constantinople,  he  had 
given  lectures  to  great  crowds  in  the  Opera  House.  The 
ladies  of  the  Khedive's  harem  attended  some  of  them,  and 
when  he  declared  that  the  great  tache  upon  the  Moslem  faith 
was  the  position  it  assigned  to  women,  general  applause 
followed.  Immediately  afterwards  there  was  a  series  of 
applaudissements  from  the  boxes  where  the  Moslem  ladies 
were  seated  behind  lattice-work,  so  distinct  that  it  sent  a 
ripple  of  laughter  throughout  the  house.    Recoimting  the 


122       FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

circumstance  to  me,  he  asked  what  was  in  my  opinion  the 
cause  of  the  low  estimate  which  Moslems  formed  of  women. 
My  reply  was  that  in  popular  estimation  women  had  no  souls. 
The  P^re  almost  jiunped  out  of  his  seat  with  astonishment. 
I  repeated  my  words  "  in  popular  estimation,"  calUng 
attention  to  the  fact  that  there  were  three  or  four  passages  in 
the  Koran  which  implied  that  women  had  souls,  but  main- 
taining that  my  statement  was  correct.  I  have  still  no 
reason  to  doubt  it.  While  admitting  my  right  to  speak  on 
the  subject  with  a  certain  authority,  he  requested  me  to 
send  him  any  independent  statement  if  I  met  with  such. 
Less  than  a  year  afterwards  I  met  with  Shifting  Scenes,  and 
there  found  a  statement  which  confirmed  what  I  had  said. 
Sir  Edward  Malet  had  remonstrated  with  the  Khedive  for 
allowing  himself  to  be  seen  within  easy  gun-shot  of  the  rebels. 
In  reply  the  Khedive  remarked,  "  Death  does  not  signify  to 
me  personally.  Our  religion  prevents  us  from  having  any  fear 
of  death.  But  it  is  different  with  our  women.  To  them,  you 
know,  life  is  everything.  Their  existence  ends  here.  They 
cry  and  weep  and  implore  me  to  save  them." 

Pere  Hyacinthe  had  come  to  Constantinople  on  a  self- 
imposed  mission.  He  recognised  that  in  the  teaching  of 
Judaism,  especially  when  it  is  of  so  noble  a  character  as  set 
out  in  the  Prophet  Micah,  where  the  Lord  requires  of 
man  "To  do  justly,  love  mercy,  and  walk  humbly  before 
God,"  there  was  a  divine  element.  The  same  element  he 
discovered  also  in  Islam,  which  is  the  doctrine  of  resignation 
to  the  Divine  will,  and  his  idea  was  to  effect  some  kind  of 
imion  between  the  three  great  faiths.  Each  one  was  to  keep 
his  own,  but  to  recognise  a  kindred  teaching  which  was  to  be 
found  in  the  other  two.  To  hear  him  explain  his  idea  was 
to  be  carried  away  by  his  eloquence,  not  only  of  word  but  of 
thought.  He  proposed  to  give  two  or  three  "  conferences  " 
or  lectures  upon  the  subject.  But  certain  persons  interfered, 
believed  by  him  to  be  of  the  Jesuit  order  in  Constantinople, 
and  when  persons  went  to  the  hall  where  the  lecture  was 
announced  for  dehvery,  a  hall  belonging  to  an  American 
institution,  they  found  poUce  officers  on  the  watch.  If  visitors 


ARMINIUS  VAMBERY  AND  ABDUL  HAMID   123 

were  Turkish  subjects  they  were  turned  back.  Foreigners 
were  invited  not  to  enter,  but  were  not  refused  admittance 
if  they  persisted.  I  went  in,  but  it  was  on  the  whole  wisely 
decided  that  nothing  should  be  done  which  should  bring 
about  a  conflict  with  the  police.  I  do  not  know  whether  the 
Jesuits  took  any  part  in  preventing  the  lecture  being 
delivered.  It  was  at  a  time  when  Abdul  Hamid  was  so 
imbued  with  suspicion  that  he  was  unwilling  to  permit  any 
public  meeting  which  could  be  prevented. 

The  attempts  which  Abdul  made  to  prevent  meetings  of 
foreigners,  even  in  private  houses,  were  many  and  persistent. 
If  the  occupant  were  the  subject  of  a  State  represented  by  an 
Ambassador  who  was  complaisant,  he  would  send  his  agents 
to  him  to  request  the  Ambassador  to  persuade  or  order  the 
subject  not  to  give  the  dinner-party  or  allow  the  dance 
which  had  been  arranged  for.  Usually  he  succeeded.  One 
characteristic  story  of  such  an  attempt,  though  it  belongs  to 
a  later  period  than  that  of  which  I  am  treating,  is  worth 
placing  upon  record.  In  the  village  of  Kadikewi,  the  ancient 
Chalcedon,  a  mile  and  a  half  distant  from  Constantinople, 
there  was  a  prosperous  British  community.  They  ran 
their  own  institute,  built  themselves  a  church,  and  paid  the 
chaplain.  So  good  a  character  did  the  community  bear, 
that  brave  old  Bishop  Sandford  spoke  of  it  in  almost  the 
last  year  of  his  life  as  the  model  parish  of  his  diocese.  At 
that  time  their  chaplain  was  Mr.  (now  Canon)  White- 
house,  who  is  now  Embassy  Chaplain.  He  had  a  great 
gift  in  getting  up  private  theatricals  at  Christmas  for 
children. 

For  several  years  in  succession  it  was  a  deUght  to  see  the 
institute  at  Kadikewi  converted  into  a  theatre,  all  the 
performers  being  boys  and  girls  of  the  British  community, 
or  schoolfellows.  Their  dancing  and  their  exhibition  of 
calisthenic  were  always  charming,  and  were  attended  by 
others  as  well  as  by  practically  every  member  of  the 
British  community.  To  suppose  that  they  had  any  political 
signification  would  be  as  absurd  as  to  suggest  that  at 
private  theatricals   at   an  English  country  house,   where 


124       FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

only  English  people  were  present,  a  plot  was  being 
hatched  against  the  Chinese  Government.  However, 
on  one  such  occasion  two  men  appeared  at  the  British 
Embassy  with  a  request  to  see  Sir  Nicholas  O'Conor. 
They  were  admitted  and  declared  that  they  came  from  His 
Majesty.  They  had  been  charged  to  request  that  he  should 
give  orders  to  put  an  end  to  this  performance,  which  was 
immoral  and  indecent. 

Sir  Nicholas  had  arranged  to  take  his  charming  daughters 
there  that  very  afternoon,  and  of  course  knew  all  concerned 
with  getting  up  the  entertainment  and  a  large  portion  of  the 
audience.  The  suggestion  aroused  his  Irish  blood,  and  he 
bluntly  told  the  messengers  that  he  did  not  believe  that  they 
came  from  the  Sultan,  refused  to  make  any  promise  of  the 
kind,  and  sent  them  away  with  a  reprimand  for  daring  to 
come  to  the  Embassy  with  such  an  absurd  story  as  that  they 
had  come  from  His  Majesty.  Thereupon,  as  he  told  me  the 
story  himself,  he  immediately  sent  round  and  invited  all  the 
children  belonging  to  the  other  Embassies  to  accompany  him 
in  his  large  steam-launch  to  the  entertainment  that  after- 
noon. Thither  he  went,  and  nothing  more  was  heard  from 
the  Sultan. 

It  must  be  about  thirty  years  since  I  first  met  the  dis- 
tinguished oriental  traveller  Armenius  Vambery,  I  had 
hesird  much  of  what  he  had  done  and  of  the  many  friends  he 
possessed  with  the  Turks,  and  especially  of  the  influence 
which  he  was  at  that  time  believed  to  have  with  the  Sultan. 
We  had  each  been  invited  to  a  picnic  on  a  lonely  island  in  the 
Marmara,  distant  about  twelve  miles  from  Constantinople, 
and  known  by  the  Greeks  as  Platsea  or  Flat  Island,  to 
distinguish  it  from  another  less  than  a  mile  distant,  Oxaea  or 
Pointed  Island.  Plataea  is,  however,  known  to  Englishmen 
as  Bulwer's  Island.  It  was  so  called  after  Sir  Henry  Bulwer, 
who  succeeded  Lord  Stratford  de  Redcliffe.  He  certainly 
does  not  rank  amongst  England's  successful  Ambassadors. 
He  was  there  at  a  time  when  Ismail,  Khedive  of  Egypt,  was 
intriguing  to  have  the  law  of  succession  to  the  Khedival 


ARMINIUS  VAMBERY  AND  ABDUL  HAMID  125 

throne  altered.  Ismail  squandered  money  recklessly  to 
accomplish  his  purpose. 

During  this  time  Bulwer,  who  was  undoubtedly  a  faddy 
man,  chose  to  purchase  the  island  of  Plataea,  and  built  a 
residence  upon  it  which  contained  reminiscences  of  his 
brother's  residence  at  Knebworth.  For  example,  there  was 
a  room  called  the  library,  full  of  dummy  books.  I  remember 
seeing  the  back  of  one,  Cursory  Remarks  on  Swearing. 
Another  was  "Lambs'  Tails."  "Percy  Vere,"  in  ten 
volumes.  The  situation  was  delightful  for  a  recluse  who 
might  have  half  a  dozen  visitors,  but  it  was  open  to  the 
objection  that  it  could  not  be  approached  except  in  fine 
weather,  and  that  there  was  neither  a  beach  nor  a  harbour 
for  anything  but  a  small  boat.  It  was  generally  stated  that 
he  spent  £16,000  on  the  purchase  of  the  island  and  the 
construction  of  the  building.  The  sum  appears  to  me  to 
be  a  reasonable  estimate.  Unfortunately,  while  negotiations 
were  going  on  for  the  change  of  succession,  he  is  believed  to 
have  sold  the  island  and  all  it  contained  for  ,^70,000.  Of 
course  in  a  country  like  Turkey  such  a  transaction  was 
immediately  regarded  as  a  bribe,  and  the  story  current  was 
that  when  his  successor.  Lord  Lyons,  was  appointed  to 
Constantinople,  Lord  Palmerston,  in  saying  good-bye, 
hoped  he  would  not  be  wrecked  on  any  island  in  the 
Marmara.     Se  non  e  vero,  etc. 

Amid  many  pleasant  picnics  that  I  have  enjoyed  on 
Bulwer's  Island  none  was  more  deUghtful  than  that  men- 
tioned, given,  if  my  memory  serves,  by  Sir  John  Pender. 
Vambery,  Mr.  Morgan  Foster,  and  a  number  of  Englishmen 
and  ladies  were  present.  The  castle  was  already  falling  to 
ruins.  There  was  only  one  man,  a  caretaker,  usually  living 
upon  the  island,  for  though  Ismail  had  bought  it  the  island 
was  quite  useless  to  him.  From  the  date  of  that  picnic  until 
the  first  year  of  the  reign  of  Edward  VII.  Vambery 
and  I  had  lost  sight  of  each  other.  Lunching,  however,  in 
the  station  at  Cologne  I  saw  an  elderly  man  of  Jewish 
appearance,  who  came  up  and  said,  "  You  and  I  have  met, 
but  I  can't  recall  where."     I  have  no  doubt  that  I  looked 


126      FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

dirty,  because  I  had  been  travelling  all  night  in  a  train 
without  a  sleeping  car.  I  am  quite  sure  that  he  did,  and  I 
was  therefore  not  anxious  to  make  his  acquaintance.  I  told 
him  that  I  thought  that  he  was  mistaken.  "  No,"  said  he, 
"  I  am  sure  we  have  met."  He  then  asked,  "  Are  you  a 
member  of  the  Athenaeum  ?  "  I  replied  in  the  negative, 
but  said  that  I  belonged  to  the  Reform.  "  No,"  said  he, 
"  I  have  not  met  you  there,"  but  put  his  hand  to  his  mouth 
and  said,  "  I  am  Armenius  Vambery." 

I  then  recalled  the  last  time  we  had  met,  and  the  appear- 
ance of  his  companion,  who  was  a  Hungarian  bishop.  He 
remembered  the  incident  more  distinctly  than  did  I,  and 
we  then  arranged  to  travel  together  as  far  as  Brussels. 
We  had  a  long  conversation  together  about  Turkey.  He 
told  me  he  was  on  the  way  to  see  Edward  VII.,  and  I 
confess  I  was  doubtful  as  to  his  veracity.  However,  after 
our  long  conversation  during  the  ride  to  Brussels  I  doubted 
no  longer,  and  I  learnt  from  the  Times  after  a  few  days  that 
he  had  had  a  long  audience  with  the  late  King.  He  occupied 
until  his  death  a  somewhat  unique  position.  He  had  the 
misfortune  to  be  taken  up  by  the  extreme  anti-Russian 
members  of  the  Conservative  Party.  They  made  much  of 
him  whenever  he  went  to  London,  and  in  consequence  he  was 
looked  upon  with  suspicion  by  Liberals  generally,  and  was 
classified  with  the  ordinary  jingos.  I  had  long  since  found 
out  that  he  was  essentially  a  moderate  man,  eager  after 
facts,  and  employing  his  wonderful  hnguistic  abilities  to 
obtain  them  wherever  possible. 

In  his  early  days  in  Constantinople,  when,  as  now,  numbers 
of  Moslem  pilgrims  passed  through  Turkey  on  their  way  to 
the  holy  cities,  he  would  get  hold  of  the  most  intelligent  and 
learn  the  news  from  Bokhara,  Khiva,  Samarcand,  and  other 
places  further  east.  I  had  had  occasion  two  or  three  times 
to  test  the  value  of  the  information  he  sent.  Baker  Pasha 
made  a  somewhat  remarkable  excursion  into  Central  Asia, 
and  in  conversation  with  Vambery  checked  him  in  reference 
to  the  situation  of  a  house  in  a  far  eastern  city  which  Vam- 
bery had  also  visited  as  a  pilgrim  ;  and  Baker  told  me  that 


ARMINIUS  VAMBERY  AND  ABDUL  HAMID  127 

his  knowledge  of  details  in  reference  to  the  geography  of  the 
places  that  he  had  visited  was  exceptionally  correct.  Then, 
too,  one  of  the  famous  correspondents  of  the  Daily  News, 
O'Donovan,  had  also  made  the  acquaintance  of  Vambery, 
and  bore  witness  to  the  accuracy  of  his  statements.  He 
informed  me  on  this  journey  to  Brussels  that  he  had  refused 
offers  from  our  Foreign  Office  to  make  regular  reports  on  the 
situation  in  Central  Asia,  preferring  to  keep  his  independence. 
At  the  same  time,  however,  he  sent  reports  from  time  to  time 
for  which  the  Government  paid  a  fair  remuneration. 

For  a  man  who  by  his  opponents  had  been  described  as  a 
spy,  I  never  met  one  who  left  a  more  favourable  impression 
upon  me.  That  impression  was  confirmed  by  reading  his 
autobiography,  which  is  full  of  delightful  human  touches 
shewing  how  the  little  ragged  Jew  boy  commenced  his  career 
in  Hungary  and  worked  his  way  up  until  he  had  become,  as 
he  was  when  I  last  saw  him.  President  of  the  Academy  of 
Buda-Pesth. 

Perhaps  the  most  interesting  part  of  our  conversation 
related  to  his  dealings  with  Abdul  Hamid.  For  years  after 
I  had  first  met  him  I  knew  that  he  regularly  communicated 
reports  to  the  palace.  When  the  Sultan  received  him  he 
always  spoke  of  him  as  Baba,  or  Father.  It  became,  however, 
evident  that  Vambery  was  not  inclined  to  be  either  a  spy  or 
a  flatterer  of  the  Sultan.  He  had  a  genuine  liking  for  the 
Turk,  and  he  soon  decided  that  Abdul  Hamid  was  doing 
great  injury  to  the  Turkish  race,  and,  as  he  put  it,  "  dragging 
the  country  to  ruin."  Somewhat  to  my  surprise,  I  had 
learned  in  Constantinople  that  this  man,  whom  we  were 
disposed  to  think  had  sold  himself  to  the  Sultan,  had  written 
a  letter  to  him  pointing  out  the  injury  that  he  was  doing,  and 
suggesting  methods  of  reform.  The  letter  was  so  emphatic 
in  condemnation  of  Hamidean  methods  that  the  salary  which 
he  had  been  receiving  was  stopped.  I  asked  Vambery  if  the 
statement  were  true,  and  he  gave  me  full  details.  The  letter 
which  had  decided  His  Majesty  to  stop  his  pay  was  the  latest 
of  a  series  in  which  he  had  pointed  out  the  necessity  of 
making  essential  reforms.    But  in  this  latest  letter  he  had 


128       FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

told  the  Sultan  in  so  many  words  that  the  spirit  which 
constituted  the  Turkish  nation  was  fast  quitting  all  sections 
of  the  Turkish  pubUc,  and  that  Abdul  Hamid  was  the  cause 
of  its  decadence. 

On  the  same  journey  he  cleared  up  a  small  personal  matter 
which  I  may  be  permitted  to  mention.  I  had  already  been 
many  years  at  work  collecting  material  for  and  writing 
my  Destruction  of  the  Greek  Empire.  The  justification  for 
rewriting  one  of  the  most  brilliant  chapters  in  Gibbon  was 
that  since  his  time  a  mass  of  new  material  had  come  to  Ught. 
All  the  Christian  writers  who  were  eye-witnesses  of  the 
capture  of  the  city  either  belonged  to  the  Church  of  Rome 
or  at  a  later  period  joined  it.  No  writer  belonging  to  the 
Orthodox  Church  had  left  an  account  of  the  siege  and  the 
events  preceding  and  following  it ;  but,  about  forty  years 
ago,  there  had  been  discovered  in  the  Imperial  Library  in 
Stambul  a  Greek  MS  written  by  a  subordinate  secretary 
named  Critobolus  in  the  employ  of  Mahomet  II.,  the  con- 
queror of  Constantinople. 

I  had  become  acquainted  with  several  other  works  un- 
known to  Gibbon,  one  of  which,  the  diary  of  an  Itahan  doctor 
who  was  present  at  the  siege,  was  not  pubhshed  until,  I 
believe,  1854.  But  the  most  important  of  such  documents 
was  undoubtedly  the  Life  of  Mahomet  by  Critobolus,  which 
first  became  known  through  the  labours  of  Dr.  Dethier,  an 
entirely  honest  man,  but  somewhat  of  a  crank.  For 
example,  I  have  various  tracts  by  him  criticising  pieces  of 
sculpture  and  inscriptions  with  a  scholar's  zest,  but  mixed 
with  them  are  denunciations  of  the  frauds  usually  committed 
by  priests  of  all  kinds.  When  the  MS  was  found,  a  copy 
was  made  either  by  or  for  Karl  Miiller,  and  published  in  Paris. 
But  Dethier  complained  that  the  transcript  was  incorrect, 
and  made  one  himself  and  added  notes,  some  of  which  were 
of  great  value. 

While  working  at  my  book,  I  was  anxious  to  see  the 
version  of  Dr.  Dethier.  The  MS  had  been  presented  to  the 
Imperial  and  Royal  Academy  at  Buda-Pesth,  and  Dethier 
published  a  transcript  of  it  in  two  volumes,  with  a  translation 


ARMINIUS  VAMBERY  AND  ABDUL  HAMID  129 

and  notes.  I  saw  one  portion  of  this  in  proof  as  early  as 
1876.  It  belonged  to  Dr.  Dethier  himself,  and  remained 
with  me  only  one  evening.  I  knew  that  the  whole  had  been 
printed,  but  when,  many  years  afterwards,  I  wrote  to  the 
leading  booksellers  in  Buda-Pesth  and  Vienna,  I  was 
informed  that  no  such  book  existed.  Really  what  had 
happened  was  the  following  :  after  Dethier' s  transcript  was 
finished  the  Hungarians  suddenly  awoke  to  the  fact  that 
they  were  the  brethren  of  the  Turks,  and  a  deputation  of 
two  hundred  of  them  was  sent  to  Constantinople  in  order  to 
demonstrate  their  relationship  to  and  friendship  with  the 
Turks.  They  were  received  with  great  delight  by  their 
hosts,  and  returned  well  pleased  with  what  they  regarded  as 
the  political  results  of  their  mission. 

Then  it  occurred  to  some  of  them  that  the  book  which  was 
in  their  possession  and  printed  was  not  complimentary  to 
Mahomet  II.  and  the  Turks  who  took  part  in  the  siege,  and 
they  accordingly  committed  the  folly  of  suppressing  the 
edition.  I  was  professionally  engaged  for  a  fortnight  in  Vienna 
and  Buda-Pesth,  and  employed  my  spare  time  in  trjdng  to  get 
hold  of  a  copy  of  this  edition.  I  did  not  believe  that  they 
would  actually  have  destroyed  the  volumes,  and  though  my 
search  in  the  libraries  of  the  two  cities  was  fruitless,  yet  on 
my  visit  to  the  Academy  in  Buda-Pesth  the  secretary 
produced  a  translation  of  the  volume  in  Magyar,  bursting 
into  laughter  when  he  saw  that  of  course  I  could  not  read  a 
word  of  it.  He  insisted  that  the  edition  had  been  destroyed, 
and  for  the  moment  I  had  to  be  content. 

Some  months  afterwards  a  Hungarian  colleague  called 
upon  me,  stating  that  he  was  leaving  the  next  day  for  Buda- 
Pesth,  and  asked  if  he  could  do  anything  for  me.  I  at  once 
replied  that  he  could,  and  told  him  the  tale  narrated  above. 
He  took  notes  and  said,  "  If  it  exists  in  Buda-Pesth  I  shall 
bring  it  back  for  you."  I  thought  little  more  of  the  matter 
until  two  or  three  months  later,  when  he  entered  my 
chambers,  produced  the  two  volumes  that  I  desired,  with  a 
curious  inscription  in  them,  stating  that  he  had  received 
them  with  a  condition  that  they  should  be  given  to  the 

K 


130       FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

historian,  Monsieur  E.  Pears.  I  was  delighted  to  obtain  the 
volumes,  and  though  the  inscription  struck  me  as  curious, 
made  no  further  enquiry  about  it. 

Now  I  go  back  to  my  railway  journey  between  Cologne 
and  Brussels,  in  the  course  of  which  Vambery  asked,  "  Did 

•  give  you  the  volume  of  Critobolus  ?  "    I  replied  in  the 

affirmative,  but  did  not  see  why  he  asked  such  a  question. 
He  then  explained  to  me  that  the  apphcation  was  made  to 
him  as  President  of  the  Buda-Pesth  Academy,  and  that  he 
and  his  colleagues  had  repeatedly  refused  similar  requests 
on  the  ground  that  the  transcript  or  the  translation  was  not 
accurate,  and  that  they  would  have  continued  to  refuse, 

when pleaded  very  hard,  stating  that  he  wanted  the 

volumes  for  a  friend  and  colleague  in  Constantinople.  Then 
said  Vambery,  "  When  I  learned  from  him  that  it  was  for 
you  they  were  wanted,  I  immediately  took  steps  to  let  you 
have  them,  insisting,  however,  that  he  should  write  in 
our  presence  that  they  were  not  intended  for  him,  but 
for  you." 

Great  efforts  had  been  made  in  Constantinople  to  suppress 
what  is  conveniently  called  the  White  Slave  traffic.  Pros- 
titution is  not  a  pleasant  subject  to  write  about,  but  im- 
f ortunately  it  exists  in  rather  a  worse  form  in  the  Near  East 
than  in  Western  countries.  The  Austrians  are  the  only 
people  who  have  hcensed  houses  for  the  purpose  in  Turkey, 
and  I  have  constantly  heard  stories  of  women  who  have  been 
kept  prisoners  in  such  houses.  Their  dresses  are  furnished 
by  the  proprietress,  to  whom,  in  addition  to  having  to  pay  a 
fixed  proportion  of  their  earnings,  they  have  also  to  pay  for 
such  dresses  in  instalments.  The  general  beUef  is  probably 
well  founded,  that  the  accoimts  between  the  women  and  the 
proprietress  shew  the  first  to  be  constantly  in  debt.  I  have 
heard  many  such  stories  from  friends  in  the  consulates  of 
various  nations,  including  our  own.  The  majority  of  the 
unfortunates  are  Jewesses,  and  most  of  them  from 
Rumania. 

Let  me  tell  the  story  of  one  girl  whom  I  had  a  hand  in 


ARMINIUS  VAMBERY  AND  ABDUL  HAMID  131 

saving.  An  energetic  English  lady,  the  wife  of  an  English 
clergyman,  came  to  ask  my  assistance  under  these  circum- 
stances :  she  had  instituted  an  orphanage  for  girls  during 
the  Russo-Turkish  war  ;  the  late  Lady  Strangf  ord  and  a 
number  of  us  British  residents  had  assisted  her,  and  we  had 
seen  that  after  ten  years  of  work  Uttle  girls  of  various 
races  left  orphans  by  the  war  had  been  taken  in  by  her,  fed, 
clothed,  and  had  received  an  excellent  education.  She 
was,  apparently,  delicate  in  health,  but  in  reality  of  great 
physical  and  intellectual  activity  and  full  of  human  sym- 
pathy. We  all  believed  in  her  sincerity  and  single- 
mindedness. 

She  came  to  me  in  great  distress  and  told  the  following 
story.  Among  the  girls  that  had  been  in  her  orphanage  for 
six  years  was  the  daughter  of  a  Rumanian  Jew.  He  made 
no  secret  of  his  purpose,  but  simply  stated  that  he  had  sold 
the  girl  to  a  man  who  was  collecting  girls  for  the  Far  East, 
and  that  he  was  taking  her  away.  There  was  no  question 
as  to  the  purpose  for  which  she  was  being  sold.  She  was 
good  looking,  and,  added  the  lady,  "  She  shall  not  go.  She 
is  a  good,  pious  girl."  She  told  me  that  she  had  been  to  the 
local  police,  who  said  that  they  could  not  interfere  with  a 
father's  rights.  They  knew  what  the  man  was  in  Con- 
stantinople for,  and  could  give  no  help.  Then  she  went  to 
the  chief  layman  of  the  Jewish  community.  I  knew  him  also 
well.  He  was  an  honest,  honourable  man,  and  indeed  very 
charitable  with  his  money.  He  threw  up  his  hands  and 
said,  "  It  is  very  terrible,  but  how  can  it  be  helped  ?  "  He 
could  render  no  assistance.  Then  she  went  to  a  Consul 
whom  I  knew  well.  His  reply  was  also  that  as  the  girl  was 
under  Turkish  jurisdiction  he  could  not  interfere.  The 
poor  woman  burst  into  tears  and  said  she  would  not  allow 
this  girl  to  be  taken  by  her  father.  I  sympathised  entirely 
with  her,  and,  to  cut  the  story  short,  several  of  us  found  a 
means  of  smuggling  her  out  of  the  country,  and  the  last  that 
I  heard  of  her  was  that  she  was  a  very  successful  teacher  in  a 
free  Uttle  country  in  Western  Europe. 

This  story  reminds  me  of  the  curious  mistakes  that  passing 


132       FORTY  YEARS  IN   CONSTANTINOPLE 

travellers  constantly  fall  into  on  a  hasty  journey  through 
Turkey  and  the  East.  A  neighbour  of  mine  was  an  American 
with  a  warm  heart  and  a  genuine  vein  of  humour.  He  had  a 
visitor  from  the  United  States  who  passed  an  evening  with 
him.  The  American  had  nearly  j&nished  a  book  regarding 
his  travels  in  the  Near  East.  One  chapter  in  particular  he 
insisted  upon  reading.  He  was  himself  a  clergyman  or 
minister,  though  I  do  not  know  to  what  Church  he  belonged. 
The  chapter  was  on  the  special  glories  of  the  Jewish  race. 
He  had  seen  them  in  Egypt,  in  Syria,  in  Russia,  and  else- 
where, and  their  great  glory  was  that  Heaven  had  always 
preserved  the  virginal  purity  of  these  daughters  of  Zion. 
My  friend  recognised  the  real  eloquence  of  the  chapter,  but 
determined  that  he  would  give  his  friend  a  lesson  in  the  facts. 
On  the  following  day  they  went  to  the  city  and  took  their 
course  along  two  or  three  streets  where  they  were  invited  by 
half-naked  women,  in  almost  every  European  language,  to 
enter.  "  But,"  said  the  American,  "  this  is  a  dreadful 
sight.  Who  may  these  women  be  ?  "  "  Every  one,"  said 
my  friend,  "  is  a  daughter  of  Zion." 

It  is  right  that  I  should  add  that  the  Jewesses  of  England 
were  the  first  to  take  steps  to  put  an  end  to  the  hideous 
traffic  of  which  I  have  spoken.  A  local  committee  was 
formed,  of  which  I  was  a  member,  and  was  largely  supplied 
with  the  necessary  funds  by  a  well-known  English  lady  of  the 
Jewish  persuasion.  We  had  an  officer  of  the  Girls'  Pro- 
tection Society  who  bore  his  description  on  his  cap.  He  met 
every  train  that  came  in  and  every  ship  hkely  to  have  women 
passengers  on  board,  furnished  girls  and  young  women  whom 
he  met  with  a  circular  letter,  written  in  four  or  five  different 
languages,  warning  them  against  going  to  any  house  the 
character  of  which  they  did  not  know,  and  giving  a  hst  of 
persons  who  would  be  ready  at  all  times  to  give  trustworthy 
information. 

In  addition  a  home  was  provided  for  them  under  the  manage- 
ment of  a  lady  who  could  make  herself  understood  in  three  or 
four  languages.  The  result  was  that  the  White  Slave  traffic 
was  greatly  diminished,  and  when  a  further  effort  was  made 


ARMINIUS  VAMBERY  AND  ABDUL  HAMID  133 

in  1913  in  the  same  direction,  by  the  formation  of  a  com- 
mittee of  which  the  President  was  Mr.  Morgenthau,  the 
American  Ambassador,  the  Government  consented  to 
give  every  aid  possible  to  the  Society,  and  gave  such 
aid. 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE  sultan's  summons 

Sir  Edward  Thornton — ^Mr.  Sunset  Cox — ^A  Brilliant 
Speaker — Sir  William  White — His  Friendship  with 
Dr.  Washburn — ^The  Sultan  Sends  for  Me — The  Ideal 
Dragoman — ^I  Refuse  a  Decoration — Haji  All's  Aston- 
ishment— ^The  Sultan  Persists — The  Secretary's  Ignor- 
ance— A  Visit  from  a  Spy — The  Decoration  Again 
Offered — ^A  Significant  Hint — ^The  Value  of  a  Turkish 
Decoration — The  Order  of  the  Mejidieh  Conferred  on  a 
Fighting  Cock. 

LORD  DUFFERIN  ceased  to  be  Ambassador  on  Sep- 
tember 17,  his  place  being  filled  by  Mr.  G.  H. 
Wyndham,  Charge  d' Affaires.  Abdul  Hamid  by 
that  time  had  made  his  peace  with  our  Ambassador,  but  there 
must  have  been  several  sharp  passages  between  them  after 
the  tussle  that  had  taken  place  on  England's  invitation  for 
the  Turks  to  enter  Egypt.  I  remember  Lord  Dufferin  telling 
me,  for  example,  that  he  had  information  that  great  numbers 
of  Arabic  documents  had  either  been  printed  in  the  palace 
or  taken  there  with  the  object  of  sending  them  by  secret 
agents  into  Afghanistan  and  various  places  in  India,  urging 
revolt  against  British  rule.  Lord  Dufferin  had  spoken  to  the 
Sultan  on  the  subject,  had  informed  him  that  he  had  full 
knowledge  of  what  was  being  done,  and  pointed  out  that 
any  action  of  that  kind  would  lead  to  a  misunderstanding 
between  the  two  Powers.  The  Sultan  professed  ignorance 
but  would  enquire  into  the  matter,  and  as  a  matter  of  fact 
most  of  the  documents  in  question  were  destroyed. 

Lord  Dufferin's  successor  was  Sir  Edward  Thornton.  His 
appointment  dated  from  December,  1884.  He  came  to 
Turkey  from  Washington,  where  he  had  done  excellent  work, 

134 


THE  SULTAN'S  SUMMONS  135 

and  perhaps  had  the  misfortune  to  bring  too  high  a  reputa- 
tion. However,  during  his  short  term  in  Constantinople 
there  was  no  burning  question  between  the  two  countries, 
and  he  did  well.  The  only  personal  incident  that  I  can 
recall  in  reference  to  him  is  the  following.  He  had  an 
aversion  to  public  speaking.  Every  year  in  Robert  College 
there  was  a  "  Commencement  Day,  "to  me,  as  an  Englishman, 
always  a  misnomer,  in  which  degrees  were  conferred  and 
speeches  made.  Our  Ambassadors  have  been  present  usually 
at  "  Commencements."  The  most  important  speaker  on 
that  day  was  the  American  Minister  (for  at  that  time  the 
United  States  had  a  Legation  and  not  an  Embassy),  a 
gentleman  usually  known  as  Mr.  Sunset  Cox,  a  man  of 
charming  manner,  wonderful  facility  of  speech,  a  clear- 
headed man  and  a  general  favourite. 

He  had  listened  to  various  short  orations  in  Greek, 
Armenian,  Bulgarian,  and  Turkish,  of  none  of  which  lan- 
guages, as  he  frankly  told  us,  he  understood  a  word. 
But  he  made  these  orations  the  text  for  a  rattling  good  speech 
which  kept  the  crowded  audience  in  a  roar  of  laughter.  He 
declared  that  now  he  believed  more  firmly  than  ever  in  the 
story  of  the  confusion  of  tongues  at  the  building  of  the  Tower 
of  Babel.  He  became  enthusiastic  on  the  union  of  nations 
and  the  glorification  of  the  flag  of  the  United  States.  A 
huge  one  hung  on  his  left  and  an  equally  huge  Union  Jack  on 
his  right.  But  it  happened  that  while  he  was  speaking  of 
the  glories  of  the  United  States,  he  was  constantly  pointing 
to  the  Union  Jack. 

I  think  Sir  Edward  Thornton,  who  no  doubt  could  have 
made  a  plain  British  statement  of  fact  as  well  as  most  of  us, 
got  alarmed  at  having  to  follow  so  brilliant  a  speaker,  and  as 
I  sat  near  him  on  the  platform  he  begged  me  to  reply  on 
behalf  of  the  British  colony  instead  of  him.  This  I  did  by 
trying  to  strike  into  the  same  vein  of  hilarity  which  Mr. 
Sunset  Cox  had  employed.  I  remarked  that  no  doubt  the 
audience  had  observed  that  in  speaking  of  the  glories  of  the 
Stars  and  Stripes  he  had  constantly  pointed  to  the  Union 
Jack,  perhaps  even  more  often  than  to  his  own  flag.    The 


136       FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

audience  laughed,  because  what  he  had  done  had  been  seen 
by  everybody.  I  declared  that  I  had  tried  to  think  what 
was  Mr.  Cox's  meaning.  I  pointed  out  that  he  was  a 
diplomatist,  and,  addressing  a  college  audience,  saw  that 
everybody  would  recognise  that  diplo  was  the  same  word  as 
our  double,  and  that  in  all  the  glorifications  of  the  American 
flag  he  was  thinking  of,  as  well  as  pointing  to,  the  British.  The 
audience  took  my  small  point  very  well  and  I  managed  to  say 
the  right  things.  When  I  sat  down  Sir  Edward  stood  up  to 
take  my  hand  and  to  tell  me  that  I  had  done  splendidly. 

I  went  home  that  evening  to  Prinkipo  with  Mr.  Cox  in 
his  steam-launch,  and  the  conversation  naturally  turned  upon 
public  speaking.  I  stated  that  though  I  had  heard  many  of 
our  best  English  speakers,  I  had  never  met  one  who  was 
more  ready  to  make  a  point  than  was  he.  His  answer  was, 
that  if  I  had  had  to  stimip  for  six  weeks  at  a  time  and  make 
speeches  half  a  dozen  times  a  day  with  all  sorts  of  inter- 
ruptions and  being  heckled  everywhere,  I  would  recognise 
how  every  American  of  experience  became  a  ready  speaker. 
When  his  term  as  Minister  expired  he  wrote  a  book  called 
The  Pleasures  of  Prinkipo,  and  sent  me  a  copy  with  a 
charming  letter  written  from  the  presidential  chair  of  the 
United  States  Senate.  Few  men  have  left  pleasanter 
recollections  in  Constantinople  than  Mr.  Sunset  Cox. 

At  Sir  Edward  Thornton's  departure  from  Constantinople 
Sir  William  A.  White  was  appointed  Envoy  Extraordinary 
and  Minister  Plenipotentiary  ad  interim,  the  appointment 
dating  from  April  i8, 1885.  I  had  not  only  seen  Sir  WiUiam 
when  he  came  to  Constantinople  in  1876,  but  had  visited  him 
in  Bucarest,  where  he  had  been  appointed  Minister  on  the 
estabhshment  of  the  kingdom  of  Rumania.  Sir  WiUiam 
was  a  man  who  had  risen  entirely  by  his  own  merit.  Before 
being  appointed  to  Bucarest  he  was  our  Consul  at  Belgrade, 
and  already  when  he  came  to  Constantinople,  on  his  first 
visit,  seemed  to  know  the  inner  working  of  the  Government 
of  Serbia  and  the  forces  of  the  great  movements  already 
visible  among  the  Serbs,  the  Bulgars,  and  the  Rumans.    His 


THE  SULTAN'S  SUMMONS  137 

opinions  were  definite  and  clear,  because  he  knew  his  subject. 
He  was  a  devout  Roman  Catholic,  but  was  not  only  tolerant 
of  other  people's  opinion,  but  spoke  on  religious  matters  to 
men  whom  his  Church  would  consider  heretics  with  a 
frankness  and  sincerity  which,  to  my  knowledge,  charmed 
one  of  them. 

Dr.  Washburn  and  he  took  a  liking  to  each  other  which 
was  creditable  to  both.  Each  was  a  distinctly  pious  man, 
each  level-headed  and  clear-sighted.  But  one  would  hardly 
have  expected  that  the  devout  Cathohc  and  the  devout 
Presbyterian  should  have  exchanged  rehgious  experiences. 
Such,  however,  they  did,  and  Dr.  Washburn,  after  the  death 
of  Sir  William,  gave  me  a  touching  account  of  a  conversation 
they  had  together  of  the  rehgious  experiences  each  had  gone 
through,  in  which  each  had  found  the  other  in  cordial 
S5mapathy.  I  should  not  be  justified  in  entering  into  detail 
on  this  subject. 

As  Sir  WilUam  White  grew  older  he  became  stout  and 
heavy,  and  this  somewhat  affected  his  vitality.  To  see  him 
at  his  best  was  to  have  a  private  conversation  with  him.  He 
always  astonished  me  with  the  abundance  of  his  knowledge 
of  the  statesmen  of  the  Balkan  Peninsula,  of  the  history  and 
of  the  tendency  of  each  race.  He  knew  German  well  and 
had  married  a  German  wife,  and  I  think  it  may  fairly  be  said 
that  his  tendency  was  to  support  the  influence  of  Germany  in 
Turkey.  In  so  doing,  I  do  not  suggest  for  an  instant  that  he 
was  thinking  of  political  results,  but  he  recognised  that  there 
was  a  large  field  for  German  enterprise  in  Asia  Minor ;  and  I 
do  not  think  I  should  be  wrong  in  saying  that  his  idea  was 
that  the  larger  the  interest  acquired  by  Germany  in  Asia 
Minor,  the  better  guarantee  did  the  Western  Powers  possess 
that  Russia  should  not  be  allowed  to  have  possession  of 
Constantinople. 

It  was  during  Sir  William  White's  time  that  an  incident 
occurred  of  interest  to  myself.  I  received  a  letter  from  Sir 
Alfred  Sandison,  the  First  Dragoman  to  the  Embassy.  Let 
me  say  that  this  position  in  Constantinople  is  one  of  the 


138       FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

highest  importance.  Next  to  the  Ambassador  the  First 
Dragoman  is  the  EngHshman  of  most  influence  in  Turkey. 
Abdul  Hamid,  hke  his  predecessor  and  successor,  practically 
knew  no  language  except  Turkish.  His  flatterers,  even  in 
English  newspapers,  sometimes  spoke  of  his  excellent  know- 
ledge of  French.  That  he  had  a  smattering  of  the  language 
is  undoubtedly  true,  but  he  could  no  more  keep  up  a  con- 
versation in  that  language  than  he  could  have  done  in 
Chinese.  There  are  many  messages  which  have  to  be  given 
to  His  Majesty,  many  explanations,  many  conversations 
arising  incidentally  out  of  written  or  verbal  communications 
which  render  it  absolutely  necessary  that  the  representative 
of  our  Government  should  speak  Turkish  as  well  as  he  does 
EngUsh. 

Mr.  G.  Fitzmaurice,  the  present  First  Dragoman,  fulfils 
these  requirements,  and  in  addition  has  an  exceptional 
knowledge  of  men  and  affairs.  I  remember  him  in  his 
student  dragoman  days.  He  differed  from  most  of  his 
colleagues  by  passing  a  considerable  portion  of  his  time  in 
the  really  Turkish  caf6s,  by  which  I  mean  cafes  frequented 
almost  exclusively  by  Turks  or  Turkish  subjects.  In  that 
way  he  acquired  a  knowledge  of  colloquial  speech  which  is 
generally  recognised  as  unsurpassed,  and  which  no  man  can 
acquire  by  reading  Turkish  books. 

Sir  Alfred  Sandison  possessed  the  same  kind  of  fulness  of 
knowledge  of  Turkish.  The  son  of  a  Scotsman,  he  had 
been  bom  in  Turkey,  Hved  generally  amongst  the  Turks, 
and  was,  to  say  the  least,  quite  as  familiar  with  Turkish  as  he 
was  with  English.  Great  confidence  had  been  reposed  in 
him  by  Sir  William  White  and  Lord  Dufferin,  and  the  only 
fault  that  I  ever  heard  found  with  him  was  that  he  assumed 
too  much  authority  and  occasionally  softened  down  messages 
which  he  considered  likely  to  be  offensive.  Indeed,  the 
story  went  that  on  one  occasion  he  was  suspended  by  Mr. 
Goschen  for  not  giving  the  precise  and  clear-cut  message 
which  he  had  been  entrusted  to  deUver  to  His  Majesty. 
If  he  gave  offence,  as  I  believe  he  did  in  this  respect,  it  was 
recognised  that  he  had  committed  nothing  more  than  an 


THE  SULTAN'S  SUMMONS  139 

error  of  judgment.  Mr.  Goschen  was  the  Ambassador,  and 
we  all  recognised  that  the  duty  of  an  interpreter  was  not  to 
soften  a  hard  message,  but  to  give  it  in  its  entirety.  I  may 
add  that  it  was  pretty  well  known  that  Sir  William  White, 
and  probably  also  Mr.  Goschen,  on  most  occasions  discussed 
with  Sandison  what  was  the  exact  form  in  which  a  message 
should  be  given. 

To  return,  however,  to  the  letter  which  I  received  from 
him ;  it  reported  a  request  from  the  Sultan  that  I  should 
attend  upon  His  Majesty  at  the  palace.  I  wrote  in  reply, 
stating  that  I  did  not  wish  to  see  His  Majesty,  and  did  not 
propose  to  go  to  the  palace  unless  I  knew  for  what  purpose 
I  was  going.  Thereupon  Sir  Alfred  Sandison  came  to  see  me. 
He  declared  that  the  Sultan  had  not  given  him  any  ex- 
planation, but  that  he  was  quite  sure  from  the  manner  in 
which  the  request  was  made  that  it  was  not  on  an  unpleasant 
matter,  and  that  it  might  have  a  disagreeable  effect  if  I  did 
not  comply  with  his  request.  I  explained  that  my  know- 
ledge of  Turkish  was  much  too  slight  to  engage  in  a  con- 
versation with  His  Majesty,  but  that  I  would  go  if  I  could  be 
permitted  to  take  my  own  interpreter.  He  at  once  promised 
that  he  would  arrange  this  matter,  and  would  obtain  for  me 
a  pusula  which  would  pass  me  through  the  various  barriers 
at  the  palace  and  on  to  the  room  adjoining  His  Majesty's, 
occupied  by  his  private  and  confidential  secretary, 
Haji  Ali. 

The  pusula  was  duly  obtained,  and,  furnished  with  it  and 
accompanied  by  my  Armenian  secretary,  who  had  been 
with  me  since  I  entered  Turkey,  and  who  spoke  Turkish  as 
well  as  any  Turk,  I  drove  to  Yildiz.  In  conversation  during 
our  drive  I  conjectured  with  my  Dragoman  what  the  object 
of  the  visit  would  be.  He  suggested  that  as  Sandison  had 
explained  that  he  was  convinced  that  the  object  was  not  a 
disagreeable  one,  the  Sultan  probably  proposed  to  decorate 
me.  I  explained  that  I  did  not  consider  this  probable,  but 
if  such  a  proposal  were  made  I  should  refuse  to  receive  the 
decoration.  I  remember  the  poor  fellow  being  aghast  at 
the  suggestion.    It  would  be  considered  as  an  insult.    I 


140       FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

remarked  that,  as  he  was  aware,  I  had  on  three  separate  occa- 
sions refused  decorations  offered  by  His  Majesty's  Ministers 
and  also  that  when  the  suggestion  was  made  that  I  should 
receive  a  Russian  one  I  had  said,  in  presence  of  two  Russians, 
that  if  they  were  friends  of  mine  they  should  prevent  my 
being  offered  one.  My  secretary  said  that  he  knew  of  this, 
but  the  offer  would  probably  mean  that  I  was  to  receive  a 
decoration  from  the  Sultan's  own  hands,  and  in  such  case  it 
would  be  difficult  to  refuse  it.  I  then  told  him  that  he, 
acting  as  my  Dragoman,  had  nothing  to  do  but  to  repeat 
exactly  what  I  said  and  give  me  a  perfectly  correct  trans- 
lation of  the  answer. 

We  arrived  at  the  palace,  and  our  pusula  enabled  us  to 
pass  right  through  into  Haji  AJi's  room.  I  had  not  met  the 
Haji  before,  but  found  him  a  fine  old  fellow,  apparently  a 
self-respecting  Turk  of  the  old  school.  I  believe  that  he  did 
not  know  even  a  smattering  of  any  language  except  Turkish. 
When  we  entered  he  gave  me  a  cordial  greeting  and  said 
that  his  lord  (effendimis)  during  several  days  had  enquired 
after  me,  and  wanted  very  much  to  make  my  acquaintance. 
He  would  go  at  once  and  inform  him  that  I  was  present.  He 
left  the  room,  and  after  five  minutes  returned  with  a  short 
note  (an  aide  mSmoire)  stating  that  His  Majesty  had  admired 
the  work  that  I  had  done  in  the  country,  and  wished  to  shew 
his  esteem  for  me  by  presenting  me  with  a  decoration.  I  at 
once  repUed  that  while  very  grateful  for  the  proposed  honour, 
I  preferred  to  remain  undecorated.  I  may  mention  that 
my  Dragoman  knew  my  manner  of  speech  so  well  that  he 
could  translate  almost  the  inflexion  of  my  voice,  and  that 
I  knew  Turkish  sufficiently  well  to  check  what  he  said. 

Haji  Ah  expressed  his  great  surprise,  and  thinking, 
evidently,  that  I  could  not  understand  what  he  said,  re- 
marked, "  What  does  this  mean  ?  Men  come  here  prepared 
to  pay  heavily  for  decorations,  to  promise  all  sorts  of  service, 
and  sometimes  to  intrigue  in  a  rather  low-down  fashion  to 
obtain  them.  Who  is  this  man  who  is  unwilling  to  receive  a 
decoration  ?  "  I  thereupon  struck  into  the  conversation 
myself,  and  made  a  remark  to  the  effect  that  people  outside 


THE  SULTAN'S  SUMMONS  141 

the  palace  spoke  of  him,  Haji  Ali,  as  an  old-fashioned  Turk. 
"  I  am  an  old-fashioned  Englishman,  and  I  do  my  work 
without  thinking  about  decorations."  The  old  fellow  was 
pleased  with  the  compliment,  but  still  stated  that  he  did  not 
understand  my  attitude,  unwillingness  to  receive  what  many 
coveted  and  intrigued  to  obtain.  However,  it  was  his  duty 
to  convey  my  answer  to  His  Majesty  in  the  next  room,  which 
he  forthwith  proceeded  to  do. 

He  was  fully  ten  minutes  or  a  quarter  of  an  hour  absent, 
and  then  returned  with  a  still  longer  aide  ndmoire,  which 
contained  the  Sultan's  reply.  Substantially,  it  was  to  this 
effect,  that  His  Majesty  did  not  wish  to  influence  me  in  any 
way  whatever  as  to  what  I  should  write,  but  that  he  knew 
that  I  was  a  distinguished  Englishman  working  in  his 
country,  and  that  all  he  desired  was  to  shew  his  respect  for 
me,  and  he  trusted  that  I  would  accept  the  decoration  at  his 
hands.  I,  of  course,  expressed  my  gratitude  at  His  Majesty's 
desire  to  confer  a  favour  on  me,  but  added  that  if  he  would  so 
permit  I  would  take  it  as  a  favour  if  he  would  allow  me  to 
remain  undecorated.  Three  times  I  had  refused  decorations 
from  His  Majesty's  Ministers,  and  with  his  permission  I 
would  prefer  to  remain  as  I  was. 

Haji  Ali  again  went  into  the  Sultan's  room,  and  after  a 
considerable  interval  returned  with  the  message  that  of 
course  His  Majesty  could  not  press  me  to  accept  his  decora- 
tion, though  he  again  assured  me  it  was  offered  as  a  mark 
of  personal  respect.  "  But,"  he  added,  "  His  Majesty 
commands  me  to  tell  you  that  if  at  any  time  he  can  do  you  a 
favour  you  are  to  let  me,  Haji  Ali,  know  and  it  would  be  cer- 
tain that  His  Majesty  would  grant  it  if  he  possibly  could ;  or 
if  you  want  anything  you  are  to  let  me  know.  Lastly,"  said 
he,  laughing  as  he  gave  the  message,  "  His  Majesty  com- 
mands me  not  to  let  you  leave  the  palace  unless  you  give  your 
promise  that  you  will  return."  Under  such  circumstances  I 
gave  the  promise  that  I  would  return.  As  a  fact,  a  week  or  two 
afterwards  I  went  again  to  the  palace  at  a  time  when  I  con- 
sidered it  improbable  that  I  should  find  Haji  Ali,  and,  my 
expectation  being  correct,  I  left  my  card  as  evidence  that 


142       FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

I  had  been  there,  and  never  entered  the  place  again  until 
Abdul  Hamid  was  deposed. 

As  illustrative  of  the  ignorance  existing  in  the  palace, 
and  especially  of  the  able,  much-trusted  and  inteUigent 
private  secretary,  I  may  mention  the  conversation  which 
passed  after  that  which  I  have  recorded.  Haji  AU  asked  my 
interpreter  whether  Mr.  Pears  wrote  for  the  Daily  News. 
The  answer  was  in  the  affirmative.  "Is  it  published  in 
Galata  or  Pera  ?  "  The  interpreter  repUed,  "  In  neither." 
"  Well,"  said  he,  "  that  is  strange.  Effendimis  knows. 
He  said  it  was  not  published  in  either  of  those  places.  But 
why  is  it  pubUshed  in  Stambul  ?  " 

The  interpreter  explained  that  it  was  not  pubUshed  in 
Stambul  but  in  London. 

"  Ah,"  said  he,  "  my  Effendi  thought  that  it  was.  He 
knows  everything." 

When  I  returned  with  the  impression  fresh  in  my  mind  I 
wrote  a  full  account  of  my  visit  and  sent  it  to  Sir  Alfred 
Sandison.  Probably  it  is  buried  away  among  the  archives 
up  to  the  present  time. 

I  need  say  nothing  about  what  was  the  motive  influencing 
Abdul  Hamid  to  send  for  me.  On  the  following  day  I 
received  a  visit  from  the  chief  Armenian  spy  belonging  to 
the  palace,  who,  somewhat  to  my  surprise,  gave  me  a  precise 
account  of  all  that  had  passed,  and  then  added  that  probably 
I  had  refused  because  I  thought  His  Majesty  was  going  to 
offer  me  a  decoration  of  a  low  class.  He  was  charged  to  say 
that  this  was  a  mistake,  and  that  the  Sultan  proposed  to 
give  me  the  highest  class  of  the  Mejidieh  excepting  that  which 
was  reserved  for  members  of  Royal  families.  I  told  him  that 
he  was  mistaken,  and  that  if  His  Majesty  had  informed  me 
that  he  was  about  to  place  around  my  neck  the  highest  de- 
coration, even  set  in  brilliants,  I  should  still  have  declined  it. 
He  then  repeated  the  invitation  given  to  apply  to  the  palace 
if  I  wanted  any  personal  favour.  I  was  not  going  to  discuss 
matters  with  him,  though,  of  course,  I  knew  perfectly  well 
that  what  it  meant  was  that  if  I  wished  payment  in  hard  cash, 
or  a  subsidy  from  the  pdace  purse,  it  was  at  my  disposal. 


THE  SULTAN'S  SUMMONS  143 

The  granting  of  Turkish  decorations  during  Abdul  Hamid's 
time,  and  even  in  that  of  his  predecessor,  had  become  so 
common  that  any  value  they  may  ever  have  possessed  had 
ceased  to  exist  in  the  minds  of  respectable  people.  The 
story  was  that  Abdul  Aziz  had  decorated  his  fighting  cock 
with  the  order  of  the  Mejidieh  on  the  occasion  of  its  defeating 
another.  Abdul  Hamid  himself,  who  in  the  early  years  of 
his  reign  was  rather  fond  of  having  theatrical  performances 
in  a  beautiful  little  theatre  in  the  grounds  of  Yildiz,  almost 
invariably  decorated  the  chief  actress  who  performed  before 
him.  Nevertheless,  in  Turkey  as  elsewhere,  there  are  crowds 
of  people  ready  to  intrigue  and  do  dirty  work  in  order  to 
obtain  the  coveted  button  or  ribbon.  The  importance  that 
foreigners  generally  attach  to  decorations  is  curious.  But 
I  am  disposed  to  think  that  the  Turkish  official  class  is  the 
most  profusely  decorated  of  all. 


CHAPTER  XII 

THE  ARMENIAN  MASSACRES 

Popularity  of  "  The  Bosporus  Bull " — ^The  Sacredness 
of  the  Siiltan's  Tougra — Baron  Cahce's  Subtlety — Sir 
Philip  Currie — Turkish  Tobacco — ^The  Armenians  and 
Their  Culture — Lord  B5n-on  and  Their  Tongue — The 
Desire  for  Education — ^Palmerston's  Epigram — ^The 
"  Yes  Sirs  " — Abdul  Hamid  and  the  Murdered  Turk — An 
Armenian  Tragedy — ^The  Sultan's  Resolve — Organised 
Massacre — ^A  Terrible  List  of  Victims — ^Death  or  Con- 
version— An  Armenian's  Report — ^A  Great  Outcry — 
Mr.  Gordon  Bennett  in  Constantinople — ^The  New  York 
Herald's  Investigations — Abdul  Hamid's  Mistake — 
Mr.  Hepworth's  and  Mr.  Fitzmaurice's  Reports — 
"  Voluntary "  Conversions — ^The  Massacre  in  Urfa 
Cathedral. 

SIR  H.  DRUMMOND  WOLFF'S  mission  was  a  special 
one,  and  Sir  William  White,  during  the  same  year, 
was  also  on  a  special  mission.  This  had  reference 
to  the  affairs  of  Egypt.  In  October,  1886,  Sir  William  White 
returned  to  Constantinople  as  Special  Ambassador,  and 
three  or  f om-  months  afterwards  as  Ambassador  Extraordin- 
ary and  Plenipotentiary.  During  the  next  four  years,  and 
until  his  death,  he  continued  to  act  with  great  ability,  and 
earned  the  respect,  not  merely  of  the  Porte,  but  of  the  heads 
of  the  Orthodox  and  Armenian  Churches.  When  he  had  a 
point  to  make,  either  at  the  Porte  or  at  the  palace,  he 
submitted  it  in  a  plain  and  straightforward  manner,  so  that 
there  could  be  no  mistake  as  to  what  he  meant. 

He  was  physically  a  big  man,  had  naturally  a  loud  voice, 
and  when  he  became  excited  used  it  to  such  effect  that,  as  I 
have  said,  the  Turks  spoke  of  him  as  "  the  Bosporus  Bull." 
Though  many  of  the  officials  disliked  him  it  w£is  not  because 


THE  ARMENIAN  MASSACRES  145 

of  his  manner  or  his  voice,  but  on  account  of  his  persistency. 
The  Turkish,  and  indeed  the  Eastern,  mind  generally  has 
a  tendency  to  intrigue,  and,  comparing  our  exper- 
iences together.  Sir  William  and  I  were  in  accord  that  the 
successful  diplomats  were  those  who  avoided  anything  of 
that  kind,  or  of  doing  their  business  in  an  indirect 
fashion.  The  Eastern  can  usually  beat  an  Englishman  if 
he  tries  that  game.  "  Make  up  your  mind,"  said  he,  "  what 
you  want.  State  it  clearly  and  you  will  beat  the  Eastern 
who  tries  the  roundabout  method  of  accomplishing  his 
object."  The  conversation  recalled  General  Ignatiev's 
declaration  that  he  deceived  the  Turks  by  always  telUng 
them  the  truth. 

It  was  during  Sir  William's  time  in  Constantinople  that 
Sultan  Abdul  Hamid  fully  developed  his  powers  of  intrigue. 
He  had  got  the  Press  entirely  under  his  control.  He  had 
suppressed  every  form  of  public  meeting.  He  had  estab- 
lished a  system  of  espionage  so  complete  that  the  common 
expression  in  Constantinople  was  that  if  three  Turkish  sub- 
jects met  together  one  at  least  would  be  a  spy.  It  was  then 
that  Abdul  began  the  game  at  which  he  considered  himself 
an  adept,  of  plajdng  off  one  Embassy  against  another. 
Without  any  real  knowledge  of  the  world  he  was  largely  at 
the  mercy  of  his  army  of  spies,  and  the  stories  which  were 
current  in  Constantinople  of  the  importance  that  he  attached 
to  their  reports  confirmed  this  belief. 

We  shall  see  afterwards  that  when  the  Revolution  of  1908 
came,  the  numbers  of  "  Journals,"  which  was  the  name  given 
to  the  reports  of  the  spies,  ran  into  many  thousands.  One 
illustration  of  the  absurdity  of  listening  to  them  may  be 
given.  Abdul  had  given  a  concession  for  the  purchase  and 
sale  of  tobacco  en  regie  to  the  company  known  as  the 
R6gie  Ottomane  de  Tabac.  That  Company  had  purchased 
from  Austria  millions  of  cigarette  papers  of  the  best  quality, 
each  one  containing  upon  it  the  Sultan's  tougra.  One  of  the 
spies,  months  after  the  Regie  was  in  full  working,  called  His 
Majesty's  attention  to  the  fact  that  when  a  man  smoked  a 
cigarette  he  threw  the  end  on  the  ground  and  trod  on  it, 

L 


146       FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

It  was  claimed  that  this  was  an  indignity  upon  the  sovereign. 
Thereupon  an  order  was  issued  that  no  such  cigarette  paper 
should  be  employed.  To  have  obeyed  it  meant  a  very 
heavy  loss  to  the  R6gie  Ottomane  and  perhaps  a  still  greater 
one  to  the  Austrian  manufacturer.  But  it  required  all  the 
great  personal  influence  which  the  Directors  of  the  Regie 
possessed,  joined  with  that  of  the  Austrian  Ambassador,  to 
induce  the  Sultan  to  rescind  the  order.  The  paper  had  come 
from  Austria.  Baron  Calice,  the  Austrian  Ambassador, 
was  an  experienced  diplomatist,  and  one  of  his  colleagues 
informed  me  at  the  time  that  the  great  argiunent  which  had 
been  brought  to  bear  upon  Abdul  Hamid  was  that  a  portrait 
of  the  Emperor  was  on  each  postage  stamp,  and  that  these 
were  not  only  constantly  trodden  under  foot  but  were  stuck 
on  with  spit. 

While  on  the  subject  of  cigarettes,  let  me,  as  an  old  resident 
in  Turkey,  say  something  about  smoking  and  tobacco.  When 
I  went  to  the  country  the  old-fashioned  Turks  usually  smoked 
either  the  hubble-bubble  or  a  chibuk.  Even  now  old-fashioned 
persons  indulge  in  one  or  other  method.  Neither  has  taken 
root  in  England,  nor  is  it  desirable  that  either  should  do  so. 
Though  with  the  hubble-bubble  the  smoke  is  largely  cleansed 
by  passing  through  water,  the  amount  of  nicotine  taken  into 
the  body  is  excessive.  The  chibuk  was  the  fashionable 
method  of  smoking,  or,  as  the  Turks  call  it,  of  eating  smoke. 
I  was  present  many  years  ago  during  the  sale  of  the  personal 
property  of  Mustafa  Fazil  Pasha,  an  Egyptian  Prince, 
brother,  I  believe,  of  Ismail,  and  was  astonished  at  the 
number  of  mouthpieces  that  were  sold.  Usually  they  were 
from  six  to  ten  inches  long,  sometimes  wholly  of  amber  and 
studded  with  diamonds  or  other  precious  stones,  some  of 
them  fetching  as  much  as  £150. 

The  cigarette  is  now  the  general  form  of  smoking.  The 
tobacco  is  a  delicate  plant,  and  varies  greatly  in  different 
parts  of  the  country.  Consumers'  tastes  differ  greatly. 
I  remember  one  of  my  first  visits  to  the  late  Halim  Pasha, 
father  of  the  present  Grand  Vizier.  He  was  perhaps  the 
wealthiest  man  in  the  country,  and  generously  hospitable 


THE  ARMENIAN  MASSACRES  147 

to  his  guests.  After  I  was  seated  he  offered  me  a  cigarette 
of  the  most  expensive  quaUty,  which  was  described  as 
"  specially  made  for  the  palace."  He  then  pulled  out  a 
drawer  and  took  one  of  the  cheapest  for  himself,  indeed, 
of  a  kind  smoked  by  the  ordinary  soldier  and  costing  one 
piastre  or  two  pence  for  a  box  of  twenty.  He  burst  out 
laughing  when  he  saw  that  I  had  observed  him,  and  re- 
marked, "  I  keep  those  cigarettes,"  pointing  to  those  from 
which  I  had  taken  mine,  "  for  my  friends,  but  to  me  they 
have  no  taste.  These  of  the  fourth  quality  are  the  only  ones 
that  are  smokable." 

The  revenue  from  manufactured  tobacco  was  given  over, 
together  with  those  from  five  other  articles,  to  the  Depart- 
ment of  the  PubUc  Debt,  which  was  charged  with  the 
administration  of  the  conceded  revenues  for  the  benefit  of  the 
bondholders.  Subsequently  a  great  company  was  formed, 
which  agreed  to  pay  to  the  Government,  through  the 
Department  of  Public  Debt,  750,000  Tmrkish  pounds  per 
annum.  The  Company  managed  this  conceded  revenue  in 
trust  [en  regie)  for  the  Government,  and  is  now  known 
throughout  the  world  as  the  Ottoman  Regie  of  Tobacco. 

My  experience  has  led  me  to  have  little  confidence  in  the 
judgment  of  London  tobacconists  where  cigarettes  are 
concerned.  I  remember  one  night  calling  in  at  one  of  the 
most  pretentious  shops  in  the  West  End,  and  asking  what 
cigarettes  were  to  be  had.  The  vendor  said  that  he  had  the 
best  cigarettes  in  London.  They  were  smoked  by  Members  of 
the  House  of  Lords  and  others  of  the  nobihty,  and  their  great 
recommendation  was  that  they  were  made  of  Ayasaluk 
tobacco,  a  quality  which  he  extolled  in  the  highest  terms.  I 
surprised  him  by  saying  that  he  did  not  know  what  he  was 
talking  about ;  that  not  only  had  I  been  at  Ayasaluk,  but 
that  anybody  who  knew  Turkish  tobacco  was  aware  that  it 
was  a  throat  irritant  of  a  very  uncomfortable  and  even 
dangerous  kind. 

The  great  advantage  of  having  Regie  tobacco  is  that  the 
smoker  who  has  once  had  a  cigcirette  which  he  likes  is 
almost  always  certain  to  obtain  others  of  the  same  quality 


148       FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

by  obtaining  cigarettes  of  the  same  denomination.  The 
Ottoman  Regie  indeed  is  well  managed,  although  the  initials 
on  its  bales  in  Turkey,  R.O.T.,  give  a  different  suggestion. 
It  has,  however,  never  been  heartily  supported  by  the 
Government.  It  has  a  monopoly  of  the  sale  of  tobacco  in 
any  form  in  the  Empire.  There  are,  however,  whole 
provinces  where  it  is  next  to  impossible  to  get  a  R6gie 
cigarette. 

One  of  the  stories  by  the  late  Hobart  Pasha  was  that  Sultan 
Abdul  Hamid  offered  him  a  cigarette  with  the  assurance 
that  it  was  "  not  Regie."  It  is  only  fair  to  say  that  this 
was  in  the  early  days  of  the  Regie,  and  before  it  had  become 
so  well  organised  as  it  was  before  the  present  war.  Now  that 
Cavalla  and  other  districts  which  favour  the  growth  of  the 
tobacco  plants  best  suited  for  cigarettes  have  ceased  to  be 
part  of  Turkey,  it  remains  to  be  seen  whether  the  Regie  can 
continue  to  produce  as  good  cigarettes  as  formerly. 

Sir  William  White  got  on  fairly  well  with  the  Sultan, 
though  it  cannot  be  said  that  he  was  a  favourite.  He  was 
well  liked  by  the  British  and  other  civil  communities  at 
Pera,  and  took  a  great  interest  in  our  English  High  School 
for  Girls.  The  British  and  other  colonies,  and  the  Turks 
themselves,  recognised  that  he  possessed  great  capacity, 
a  knowledge  of  affairs  which  prevented  him  putting  forward 
any  project  without  full  consideration,  and  an  unyielding 
determination  to  carry  it  through  once  he  had  made  up  his 
mind  that  it  ought  and  could  be  carried  through.  He  had, 
however,  been  in  failing  health  for  some  months  before  his 
death,  and  it  was  not  a  great  surprise  to  us  to  learn  that  on 
his  visit  to  BerUn  in  January,  1892,  he  died. 

In  January,  1892,  he  was  succeeded  by  Sir  F.  C.  Ford,who 
came  during  a  time  of  peace,  and  had  no  burning  questions  to 
deal  with.  He  gave  me  the  impression  that  in  his  inter- 
course with  other  ambassadors  he  found  it  better  not  to 
discuss  politics  unless  he  was  charged  with  the  specific  duty  of 
so  doing.  He  was  much  interested  in  art,  and  especially  in 
painting,  but  I  fancy  he  found  Constantinople  an  uncongenial 


THE  ARMENIAN  MASSACRES  149 

place,  and  left  after  some  months,  Mr.  (afterwards  Sir)  E. 
Fane  becoming  Minister  Plenipotentiary  ad  interim. 

On  January  i,  1894,  Sir  Philip  W.  Currie  became  Am- 
bassador. He  had  never  been  stationed  in  Constantinople 
before,  but  he  came  to  the  city  with  a  full  knowledge  of 
Turkish  pohtics.  As  far  back  as  the  Conference  in  1876-7 
he  had  been  Secretary  to  Lord  Salisbury  in  Constantinople, 
and  afterwards  at  the  Berlin  Congress.  Subsequently  he 
was  Permanent  Under-Secretary  for  Foreign  Affairs.  He 
was  a  fine  specimen  of  an  English  well-trained  diplomat, 
and  a  worthy  successor  to  Sir  William  White.  Clear-sighted 
and  intelligent,  he  soon  gained  the  local  knowledge  which  is 
always  useful  to  an  ambassador.  He  was  a  hard  worker 
and,  like  Sir  William  White,  took  interest  not  merely  in  the 
more  or  less  technical  matters  with  which  an  ambassador  has 
to  deal  and  in  commercial  matters,  but  in  the  great  human 
movements  which  are  never  absent  from  Turkey.  It  was 
during  his  time  (from  January  i,  1894,  to  April  i,  1898)  that 
we  had  the  full  development  of  Abdul  Hamid's  malignity, 
especially  towards  the  Armenians. 

The  story  of  the  massacre  of  the  Armenians  requires  little 
explanation  here.  Travellers  have  recognised  for  centuries 
that  the  Armenian  population  of  Turkey,  numbering  about 
two  millions,  is  a  most  valuable  element  in  the  country. 
The  people,  like  ourselves,  belong  to  the  Indo-European  race. 
A  large  portion  of  them  occupy  a  mountainous  country, 
and  the  men  are  usually  stalwart  and  industrious.  Their 
country  was  civilised  and  prosperous  in  the  time  of  Christ, 
and  I  cannot  doubt  that  the  general  average  intelligence  of 
Armenians  is  due  to  the  fact  that  they  are  the  descendants  of 
parents  who  have  been  civilised  for  centuries,  and  possibly 
even  millenniums .  Armenia  was  the  first  country  to  establish 
Christianity  as  the  religion  of  the  State.  Their  great 
Christian  teacher  and  national  saint  is  Gregory  the 
Illuminator. 

Their  Church  has  had  a  lengthy  and  continuous  history. 
It  was  long  recognised  by  the  other  great  historical  Churches 


150       FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

as  one  of  equal  authority  with  their  own.  There  have  been 
differences  at  times  between  the  Holy  Orthodox  Church, 
the  Nestorians  and  other  Asiatic  Churches,  but  these  have 
long  since  been  forgotten,  and  at  the  present  time  the 
Orthodox  and  the  Armenian  Churches  get  on  well  together 
in  Constantinople  and  the  Turkish  Empire.  The  late 
Patriarch  Joachim,  for  example,  dming  the  time  of  the  great 
massacre  of  the  Armenians,  took  occasion  to  visit  officially 
the  Armenian  Patriarch,  and  to  express  the  friendly  feeling 
which  had  so  long  existed  between  the  "  sister  Churches." 
A  difference  worth  noting  between  the  Greeks  and  the 
Armenians  with  reference  to  their  Churches  is  that  while  the 
former  confuses  nationality  and  religion,  the  Armenians, 
from  historical  causes,  have  never  felt  the  two  to  be 
necessarily  coincident. 

The  Armenians  furnished  regiments  and  statesmen  to  the 
Greek  Empire  until  its  destruction.  Even  under  Turkish 
rule,  right  down  to  the  accession  of  Abdul  Hamid,  they 
supplied  as  many  Ministers  and  officials  in  the  Turkish 
department  as  did  the  Greeks.  During  several  generations 
the  leading  Armenians  saw  the  importance  of  education. 
The  honour  of  first  establishing  schools  amongst  them  belongs 
to  the  Roman  Catholics,  whose  first  missions  to  them  date 
back  to  about  1720.  Naturally  these  missions  had  as  an 
object  to  detach  Armenians  from  their  national  Church,  or, 
as  the  Catholics  called  it,  the  Gregorian  Church,  to  that  ot 
Rome,  and  in  the  cities  and  towns  of  the  Empire  this 
endeavour  met  with  considerable  success.  Several  congre- 
gations were  formed ;  a  separate  religious  community  was 
officially  recognised,  whose  members  were  correctly  spoken 
of  as  Armenian  Catholics,  as  distinguished  from  Roman 
Catholics.     They  are  of  course  in  union  with  Rome. 

The  Armenians  at  the  time  of  our  Protestant  reformation 
in  the  West  were  greatly  interested  in  it,  a  fact  which  I  mention 
to  shew  that  their  general  interest  in  religious  movements  is 
not  of  recent  growth.  Two  religious  "  communities  "  were 
established  outside  Turkey,  mostly,  I  believe,  by  the  efforts 
and  with  the  money  of  one  Armenian,  the  first  in  Vienna 


THE  ARMENIAN  MASSACRES  151 

and  the  second  in  Venice,  and  both  known  after  their  founder 
as  Mekitarists.  Probably  many  of  my  readers  have  visited 
the  island  of  San  Lazzaro  in  Venice,  where  there  is  a  com- 
munity of  Armenian  monks,  with  an  interesting  library  and 
collection  of  pictures.  Lord  Byron  went  there,  and  the 
monks  shew  his  exercises  in  the  Armenian  language.  In 
writing  on  the  subject,  Byron  suggests  that  his  mind  is 
getting  flabby,  and  that  he  has  taken  up  with  Armenian  as 
a  stiff  study.  The  monks  there,  too,  are  proud  of  the  testi- 
mony in  their  visitors'  book  given  by  John  Ruskin,  and,  un- 
less my  memory  is  at  fault,  by  Mr.  Gladstone.  It  is  interest- 
ing to  see  their  collection  of  pictures,  because  I  have  often 
remarked  on  the  absence  of  artistic  talent  amongst  the 
Greeks  as  compared  with  the  Armenians.  It  is  rare  to  visit 
the  house  of  an  Armenian  in  a  fairly  prosperous  condition 
where  there  is  not  evidence  of  artistic  and  musical  taste : 
pictures  or  a  piano,  or  other  musical  instruments. 

Stimulated  by  the  example  of  the  Roman  Catholic  missions, 
which  were  followed  up  afterwards  by  American  Protestant 
missions,  a  zeal  for  education  became  widespread  through  the 
race.  The  first  year  I  spent  in  Turkey  I  was  taken  on  a 
Sunday  morning  to  a  large  Armenian  church,  and  saw  a 
number  of  hamals,  men  of  the  porter  class,  who  were 
struggling  hard  with  the  mystery  of  pot-hooks  and  elemen- 
tary lessons  in  reading  and  writing.  It  was  a  pleasant  and 
pathetic  sight.  None  of  them,  I  fancy,  needed  the  stimulus 
which  the  schoolmaster  in  Adam  Bede  had  to  apply  to  his 
scholars.    Their  heart  was  in  the  business. 

A  community  with  the  desire  for  education  is  not  likely  to 
sit  quietly  under  Turkish  or  other  misrule,  and  in  a  very  real 
sense  it  may  be  said  that  the  fomenters  of  political  agitation 
in  Armenia,  as  in  Bulgaria,  were  the  schoolmasters  and 
the  missions,  Catholic  or  Protestant.  The  Turks,  amongst 
whom  the  Armenians  are  generally  dispersed,  resented  this 
desire  for  instruction  and  closed  the  schools.  It  did  not 
occur  to  them  for  many  years  to  open  Turkish  schools,  even 
in  districts  where  the  Armenians  spoke  only  Turkish.  I 
had  learnt  that  such  districts  were  not  uncommon  through 


152       FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

having  to  work  up  a  case  regarding  an  alleged  Armenian 
estate  dating  back  to  about  1780.  A  large  number  of 
undoubtedly  genuine  Armenian  letters  of  that  date  had  been 
preserved  in  a  monastery  and  had  to  be  translated.  I  then 
saw  not  only  that  the  Armenians  were  bitterly  persecuted, 
but  that  they  were  forbidden  to  speak  their  own  language, 
under  penalty  of  having  the  tongue  cut  out  if  they  did  so. 

To  this  hour,  indeed,  there  are  many  Armenian  villages 
where  Turkish  is  the  only  language  understood.  Even  in 
Constantinople  for  some  years  after  my  arrival  there  were 
published  three  newspapers  in  the  Turkish  language,  but 
printed  in  Armenian  characters.  I  may  mention  incidentally 
that  the  Armenian  script  is  purely  phonetic,  so  that  once  the 
learner  has  acquired  a  knowledge  of  its  thirty-seven  char- 
acters he  can  read  with  the  same  facility  with  which  a  man 
can  read  in  Italian  or  German  once  he  has  learned  his  letters. 
During  the  last  forty  years  the  Armenian  community  has 
made  splendid  and  generally  successful  efforts  to  improve 
the  teaching  in  its  schools,  and  with  the  result  that  the 
language  is  now  better  known  than  it  was  a  century  ago. 
But,  as  I  have  said,  all  this  interest  in  education  was  looked 
on  with  the  utmost  suspicion  by  the  Turks,  and  the  Armen- 
ian question  had  already  become  a  European  one  when 
the  Congress  of  Berlin  met  in  1878.  An  effort  was  there 
made  to  improve  the  conditions  of  the  Armenians.  The 
Treaty  provided  for  the  drafting  of  reforms  to  be  submitted 
by  the  Porte  to  the  Powers,  who  were  to  be  notified  also  of 
their  execution. 

Accordingly,  when  Sir  Henry  Layard  succeeded  Sir  Henry 
EUiot  he  was  instructed,  as  I  have  already  stated,  to  endeav- 
our to  persuade  the  Porte  to  adopt  a  scheme  of  reforms 
which  should  secure  better  protection  of  life  and  property  in 
the  provinces  inhabited  by  Armenians.  Even  in  the  days  of 
his  comparative  youth,  when  he  was  making  a  reputation  by 
his  discoveries  at  Nineveh,  Layard  had  seen  the  oppression 
of  the  Armenians.  Yet  in  spite  of  the  story  that  Palmerston 
said  he  would  forgive  Layard  for  discovering  Nineveh  but 
could  not  forgive  Nineveh  for  discovering  Layard,  there  are 


THE  ARMENIAN  MASSACRES  153 

indications  in  his  narrative  that  his  sturdy  English  sense 
revolted  at  the  Turkish  treatment  of  both  Arabs  and 
Christians.  Some  of  his  best  coadjutors  even  were  Armen- 
ians. He  made  a  lamentable  failure,  as  also  has  been  said. 
The  only  shadow  of  a  reform  which  he  succeeded  in  obtain- 
ing was  that  the  sub-governors  in  the  provinces  where  there 
were  Armenians  should  belong  to  that  race.  They  were 
appointed,  and  of  course  were  men  chosen  for  their  subservi- 
ency, and  soon  received  the  nickname  of  "  Yes  Sirs  "  (Effet 
Effendim),  because  they  were  believed  invariably  to  acquiesce 
in  what  their  chief  proposed. 

The  condition  of  disorder  in  Armenia  had  gradually  become 
worse  instead  of  better.  Then  Abdul  Hamid  seems  to  have 
determined  to  try  his  own  hand  at  statesmanship.  Men 
were  arrested  on  the  slightest  pretext  and  thrown  into 
prison.  I  remember  one  instance,  simple  but  t5^ical,  which 
Sir  Philip  Currie  told  me  of  at  the  time  it  occurred.  A  Turk 
had  been  murdered  in  a  large  village  in  Armenia.  Had  it 
been  a  Christian  no  one  except  perhaps  members  of  his  own 
family  would  have  taken  any  notice  of  the  occurrence.  The 
majority  of  the  inhabitants  were  Armenians  and  every  man 
was  immediately  thrown  into  prison.  Many  of  them  were 
subjected  to  torture  of  the  most  hideous  kind,  one  of  the 
commonest  forms  indeed  being  such  as  I  cannot  describe. 
Our  Consul  made  a  representation  of  the  facts  to  Sir  Philip 
and  he  immediately  determined  to  do  what  he  could  to  save 
the  miserable  victims.  I  saw  him  the  day  after  he  had  made 
a  visit  on  the  subject  to  the  Sultan.  He  told  me  how  he  had 
described  the  tortures.  His  Majesty  answered,  "  But  a 
Moslem  has  been  killed,"  leaving  the  impression  on  Sir 
Philip  that  of  course  in  such  case  the  authorities  were 
justified  in  arresting  all  the  Armenians  in  order  to  find  out 
who  was  the  culprit. 

Sir  Philip  explained  that  in  England  the  police  would  have 
set  to  work  to  find  out  who  it  was  and  the  man  would  have 
been  punished  in  due  course  of  law.  But  all  to  no  effect. 
The  Sultan  promised  that  he  would  enquire  into  the  matter, 
but  Sir  Phihp  subsequently  told  me  that  the  persecution  of 


154       FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

the  Armenians  in  that  village  had  not  ceased,  and  that  the 
torturers  had  not  been  punished.  Armenia  being  a  long 
distance  from  Constantinople,  with  practically  no  means  of 
communication,  the  roads  being  hideously  bad  and  the 
telegraph  being  exclusively  in  the  hands  of  the  Turks,  it  was 
only  when  letters  came  by  the  long  sea-route  under  consular 
seal  that  the  truth  could  be  learned.  In  such  letters, 
especially  from  those  of  American  and  Catholic  missionaries, 
the  stories  of  cruelty  that  were  told  were  ghastly,  nor  were 
they  confined  to  the  persecution  of  Armenians.  Notwith- 
standing that  many  years  earlier  the  great  Ambassador 
Canning  had  obtained  the  "  Hatti-houmayoun,"  which  was 
described  at  the  time  as  the  Magna  Carta  of  religious  liberty 
in  Turkey,  a  really  great  triumph  justly  put  down  to  the 
credit  of  our  country,  religious  liberty  did  not  exist,  even 
among  the  Moslems. 

Let  me  give  one  of  the  stories  about  Armenia  in  Sir 
Philip's  time  which  is  well  founded.  A  number  of  Moslems, 
headed  by  the  Ulema  of  the  village,  had  somehow  arrived  at 
the  conviction  that  Christianity  was  a  divine  revelation,  and 
that  its  teaching  rather  than  that  of  the  Koran  ought  to  be 
their  guide.  They  had  held  various  secret  meetings  without 
the  intervention,  so  far  as  could  be  learned,  of  priest  or 
missionary,  and  concluded  that  it  was  their  duty  to  profess 
Christianity.  They  knew,  however,  that  to  do  so  would 
mean  death,  for  to  suppose  that  any  Moslem  in  the  interior 
of  Asia  Minor  could  be  permitted  to  change  his  faith  was 
unthinkable.  About  thirty  of  them  determined  therefore 
to  leave  the  country,  and  to  emigrate  to  America,  where  they 
were  informed  they  might  profess  any  religion  they  liked. 
They  were  simple-minded  peasants,  and  applied  to  their 
Christian  neighbours  as  to  the  means  of  getting  to  America. 
They  had  sufficient  money  to  pay  their  passages.  They 
started  in  a  body  for  Constantinople,  but  they  never  arrived 
there.  They  disappeared  by  the  way.  An  American 
missionary,  who  was  interested  in  this  remarkable  spontane- 
ous movement  on  the  part  of  his  neighbours,  managed  to  get 
his  letters  sent  through  to  Constantinople  to  some  of  his 


THE  ARMENIAN  MASSACRES  155 

colleagues,  with  a  suggestion  that  they  should  be  aided  on 
their  arrival.  It  was  difficult  to  follow  their  course  towards 
the  capital,  but  traces  of  them  were  obtained  in  different 
places.  The  general  beUef  was  and  is  that  they  were  all 
murdered  on  the  way. 

Readers  will  recognise  that  with  such  a  spirit  of  hostility 
towards  everything  Christian  the  Armenians  continued  to 
have  a  bad  time.  The  inevitable  result  followed.  The 
ardent  spirits  among  them  joined  their  brethren  the  Russian 
Armenians  across  the  border  and  made  futile  attempts  to 
raise  a  rebellion.  Such  attempts  were  repeated  and  in- 
variably led  to  the  slaughter  of  innocent  persons.  Some 
Armenians  had  reached  Paris  and  England  and  naturally 
endeavoured  to  arouse  sympathy  with  those  who  were  in 
open  rebellion  against  Turks.  I  refused  to  praise  the  rebels. 
In  one  of  the  papers  pubUshed  in  Paris  by  the  hot-heads 
among  them,  I  was  personally  denounced  for  not  supporting 
these  Armenian  revolts.  The  charge  against  me  was  j ustified 
by  my  silence  on  the  subject.  Russia  at  the  time  was  hostile 
to  the  Armenians,  and  was  endeavouring  to  force  those  who 
were  in  Russia  to  abandon  their  ancient  Church  and  to  join 
the  Orthodox  Church  of  Russia. 

Under  such  circumstances  the  revolt  of  a  handful  of 
Armenians  had  not  a  chance  of  success  and  was  therefore 
unjustifiable.  As  a  friend  to  the  Armenians,  revolt  seemed 
to  me  purely  mischievous.  Some  of  the  extremists  declared 
that  while  they  recognised  that  hundreds  of  innocent  persons 
suffered  from  each  of  these  attempts,  they  could  provoke  a 
big  massacre  which  would  bring  in  foreign  intervention. 
Such  intervention  was  useless  so  long  as  Russia  was  hostile. 
Lord  Salisbury  had  publicly  declared  that  as  he  could  not  get 
a  fleet  over  the  Taurus  he  did  not  see  how  England  could 
help  the  Armenians,  much  as  she  sympathised  with  them. 

The  result  of  the  failure  of  these  attempts  at  revolt  was 
that  Abdul  Hamid  determined  once  and  for  all  to  make 
revolt  impossible.  It  was  commonly  said  that  he  had  made 
up  his  mind  to  exterminate  the  Armenian  population.  It 
may  well  be  doubted  whether  he  deliberately  contemplated 


156      FORTY   YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

a  step  so  difficult.  But  he  and  some  of  his  creatures  organised 
a  series  of  massacres  such  as  had  not  been  seen  in  any 
European  country  for  upwards  of  a  century.  In  making 
his  preparations  he  took  all  steps  he  could  devise  to  prevent 
the  truth  becoming  known.  Every  letter  sent  to  or  coming 
from  Asia  Minor  was  opened,  and  when  delivered  was 
intentionally  left  open.  Foreigners  as  well  as  Turkish 
subjects  were  forbidden  to  go  into  the  provinces  where 
Armenians  abounded.  The  system  of  local  passports  had 
already  become  so  strict  that  no  person  was  allowed  to 
travel  in  the  country,  even  from  one  village  to  another, 
without  possessing  one.  The  regulations,  of  course  applying 
both  to  Turkish  subjects  and  foreigners,  disorganised 
business  throughout  the  country. 

As  to  how  they  worked,  let  me  give  an  illustration  from  my 
own  experience.  I  was  then  a  director  of  a  company  for  the 
manufacture  of  cotton  yarn,  which  women  of  the  country 
weave  into  cloth.  Our  travellers,  some  of  whom  were 
Armenians,  were  chosen  for  their  business  ability  irrespective 
of  their  race  or  religion.  But  the  Armenian  travellers  were 
useless,  for  no  Armenian  was  permitted  to  have  a  local 
passport.  One  of  our  customers,  whom  I  may  give  as  an 
illustration,  took  a  considerable  quantity  of  our  goods  and 
sold  them  to  many  persons  in  neighbouring  towns  and 
villages  and  even  in  Constantinople.  He  had  paid  regularly. 
He  appUed  to  us  to  employ  our  influence  to  obtain  the 
teskeri,  or  local  passport,  in  order  that  he  might  collect  the 
money  due  to  him.  No  one  doubted  after  reading  the 
particulars  which  he  gave  of  his  creditors  that  his  statement 
was  true.  But  though  these  facts  were  laid  before  the 
palace,  even  by  Turkish  members  of  our  board,  and  although 
it  was  pointed  out  that  the  man  in  question  had  never 
been  engaged  in  poUtical  intrigue,  the  permission  was 
refused. 

When  all  arrangements  had  been  made  for  preventing 
news  coming  from  Armenia,  Abdul  Hamid  set  about  the  task 
which  he  called  giving  the  Armenians  a  lesson.  Emissaries 
were  sent  into  the  provinces.    The  Moslems  were  invited  to 


THE  ARMENIAN  MASSACRES  157 

assemble  in  the  mosques,  were  informed  of  the  Sultan's  plan, 
and  told  that  they  were  at  liberty  to  take  their  neighbours' 
goods  and  to  kill  them  if  any  resistance  was  made. 

In  one  or  two  cases — lamentably  rare,  I  am  afraid — the 
emissary  was  opposed  in  the  mosque  by  the  man  who  would 
correspond  to  the  parish  priest.  One  brave  fellow  rose  to 
speak  after  the  emissary  had  proclaimed  his  mission  and 
boldly  stated  that  he  did  not  believe  that  the  Padishah  had 
sent  any  such  orders,  but  if  he  had  done  so  he  would  still 
oppose  their  execution.  "  You  know  me,"  said  the  vener- 
able old  man,  "  as  a  good  Moslem.  The  teaching  of  Islam 
is  that  we  are  not  permitted  to  kill  unbelievers  unless  they 
are  in  rebellion.  There  is  not  a  man  among  you  who  dare 
say  that  the  Armenians  in  this  town  are  rebels.  Therefore,  if 
even  the  order  come  from  the  Padishah,  I  say  that  I  will  not 
be  party  to  their  execution,  and  that  in  the  day  of  judgment 
I  will  accuse  anyone  who  kills  his  Armenian  neighbour,  and 
let  it  be  known  that  it  was  done  after  my  warning  that  it  was 
unlawful  to  do  so."  Nevertheless  a  great  massacre  took 
place  in  that  city  next  day. 

The  precautions  that  Abdul  Hamid  had  taken  to  prevent 
news  being  transmitted  of  his  devilish  work  were  largely 
successful.  Very  few  private  letters  were  smuggled  into 
Constantinople  from  the  area  of  the  massacre,  the  fullest 
account  of  the  early  stages  having  been  sent  by  way  of 
Russia  to  the  Daily  Telegraph  The  lowest  serious  estimate 
that  has  been  made  of  the  victims  killed  is  100,000.  Sir 
William  Ramsay's  estimate  of  a  quarter  of  a  million  of 
victims  is  probably  not  too  high,  if  to  the  number  of  those 
actually  killed  are  added  those  who  died  of  starvation  and 
other  consequential  causes.  Gradually  the  news  came 
through  of  atrocities  and  of  forced  conversions  to  Mahome- 
tanism.  I  read  the  letter  received  by  a  servant  from  his 
wife,  of  which  I  regret  I  did  not  take  a  copy.  Substantially 
it  was  to  the  following  effect :  "  I  pray  that  you  and  God 
will  pardon  me  for  changing  my  rehgion,  but  I  had  to  do  it. 
Several  Turks  came  to  me  and  my  sister  and  said,  '  You  must 
become  Moslems  or  we  shall  kill  you.'     Our  three  children 


158       FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

were  with  me.  One  of  them  seized  Uttle  Andon  (six  years 
old)  and  held  a  big  knife  to  his  throat,  threatening  to  kill 
him  at  once  unless  I  changed.  You  know,  my  dear  husband, 
how  we  both  love  that  boy,  and,  God  forgive  me,  I  became  a 
Moslem.  The  others  also  turned.  They  tell  us  that  after 
two  or  three  years  we  shall  forget  that  we  have  been 
Christians  and  be  contented  to  be  Turks." 

I  collected  and  published  at  the  time  a  number  of  cases 
which  I  had  obtained  from  American  missionaries  and  from 
Consuls,  British  and  others.  Let  it  be  remembered  that  in 
all  these  cases  of  massacre  the  victim  could  have  saved  his  or 
herself  if  he  had  Ufted  up  his  hand  and  pronounced  the 
"  esh-had  "  or  confession  of  faith.  They  are  all  therefore 
entitled  to  be  classed  as  martyrs,  and  the  collection  of  stories 
which  I  made  and  sent  to  the  Daily  News  appeared  under  the 
heading,  "  The  noble  army  of  martyrs  praise  Thee." 

Meantime  no  official  or  full  account  of  the  massacres  had 
been  given  to  the  world.  Among  the  first  to  go  over  the 
ground  was  a  young  American  who  was  then  in  my  chambers, 
who  spoke  Turkish  well,  and  who  accompanied  a  newspaper 
correspondent,  the  two  travelling  as  an  engineer  (and 
making  fictitious  drawings  of  the  country)  and  his  interpreter. 
Then  a  great  outcry  arose  in  England,  America,  and  other 
civilised  countries  about  the  massacres  in  question,  their 
extent  and  their  cruelty.  Private  letters  began  to  get 
through,  mostly  by  way  of  Russia. 

Abdul  Hamid  was  informed  that  some  account,  official  or 
otherwise,  ought  to  be  published.  Then  a  happy  thought 
occurred  to  him.  Mr.  Gordon  Bennett  of  the  New  York 
Herald  arrived  in  Constantinople,  and  as  he  represented  a 
country  which  had  no  political  interest  in  Turkey  it  appeared 
to  the  Sultan  that  he  would  serve  as  a  useful  tool  for  his 
pm-poses.  Abdul  Hamid  was  never  a  good  judge  of  men, 
and  he  never  made  a  greater  mistake  than  in  supposing  that 
he  could  hoodwink  Mr.  Bennett.  What  the  New  York  Herald 
wanted  was  news,  honest  news,  not  Turkish  lies.  What  the 
Sultan  wanted  was  that  someone  should  be  sent  into 
Armenia  who  would  paint  the  Armenians  very  black  and 


THE  ARMENIAN  MASSACRES  159 

the  Sultan  as  the  father  who  loved  all  his  children  equally, 
to  employ  a  favourite  expression  of  Abdul  Hamid  in  reference 
to  his  subjects. 

Now  there  happened  to  be  at  that  time  in  Constantinople 
a  writer  of  great  intelligence  and  industry.  I  believe  that 
he  had  already  received  a  high  decoration  from  the  Sultan, 
but  if  not  then  he  received  a  little  later  the  highest  the 
Sultan  bestows  outside  reigning  families.  I  believe  that  his 
visit  regarded  some  perfectly  legitimate  concession  from  His 
Majesty.  But  it  was  believed  that  his  interests  were  bound 
up  with  the  necessity  of  keeping  on  good  terms  with  His 
Majesty,  and  when  it  was  known  that  in  accordance  with  the 
Sultan's  suggestion  this  writer  was  to  be  sent  by  Mr.  Bennett 
to  make  a  report  on  the  doings  in  Armenia,  something  like 
consternation  fell  over  all  persons  who  wished  the  truth  to  be 
known. 

Dr.  Washburn,  who  was  the  most  distinguished  American 
in  Turkey  (and  now  that  he  has  joined  the  majority  I  may 
mention  that  I  am  aware  that  the  post  of  Ambassador  to 
the  Porte  was  offered  to  him)  had  always  befriended  the 
Armenians.  He  and  I  and  a  few  others  felt  that  a  great 
disaster  was  imminent  if  an  American  newspaper  having  the 
circulation  and  influence  of  the  New  York  Herald  were  to 
give  a  one-sided  account  of  the  doings  in  Armenia.  Dr. 
Washburn  agreed  to  see  Mr.  Bennett.  He  recounted  to  me 
the  interview  he  had  with  him.  He  found,  as  might  have 
been  expected,  that  that  gentleman  was  not  a  partisan,  and 
recognised  that  a  report  by  the  person  approved  by  him  on 
the  recommendation  of  the  Sultan  might  not  give  a  correct 
version  of  the  facts.  They  consulted  together,  with  the 
result  that  on  behalf  of  the  New  York  Herald  Mr.  Hepworth 
should  accompany  the  original  nominee.  His  report  *  was 
published  in  England  and  is  of  great  value.  Mr.  Hepworth, 
in  the  preface  to  his  book,  tells  us  that  from  the  first  he 
intended  to  be  impartial.  He  kept  his  promise,  and  his 
book  indicates  clear  insight  and  the  determination  to  resist 

*  Through  Armenia  on  Horseback.    Isbister  and  Co.,  1898, 


i6o       FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

all  temptation  to  pervert  truth.  It  is  the  work  of  a  high- 
minded  and  trustworthy  man.  His  narrative  shews  that 
instructions  had  been  given  to  the  Turks  who  accompanied 
him  to  let  him  only  see  the  Turkish  side  of  the  question. 

I  do  not  propose  to  write  at  any  length  about  the  Armenian 
massacres — the  foulest  crime  which  can  justly  be  laid  to  the 
charge  of  Abdul  Hamid.  I  refer  readers  who  wish  to  see 
more  about  them  to  my  book  Turkey  and  its  People.  Those 
for  whom  the  summary  of  evidence  there  given  is  not 
sufficient  will  find  abundance  of  trustworthy  information  in 
Mr.  Hepworth's  book,  and  still  more  in  a  report  of  Mr. 
George  Fitzmaurice,  now  the  First  Embassy  Dragoman  at 
Constantinople,  pubUshed  in  a  Blue  Book,  Turkey  No.  5, 
1896. 

I  have  already  spoken  of  the  ability  and  trustworthi- 
ness of  Mr.  Fitzmaurice.  I  am  not  aware  that  he  and  Mr. 
Hepworth  ever  met,but  there  is  substantial  harmony  between 
their  reports.  Both  relate  that  the  victims  could  have 
saved  their  lives  if  they  had  been  willing  to  accept  Islam. 
In  one  town,  Birajek,  the  Turkish  officer  had  asked  the 
Christians  to  surrender  their  arms,  because  then  he  could  and 
would  protect  them  but  not  otherwise.  They  trusted  in  the 
Moslem's  word,  gave  up  their  arms  ;  but  the  officer  in  charge 
of  the  troops  refused  to  protect  them.  Every  Armenian 
house,  whether  Gregorian,  Catholic,  or  Protestant,  was 
pillaged  and  destroyed.  Here,  as  happened  in  several 
places,  a  kindly  Moslem  tried  to  protect  the  Christians. 
In  Birajek  such  a  request  was  refused.  In  other  places 
Christians  were  sheltered  by  good  Moslems,  who  after- 
wards were  exposed  to  the  vengeance  of  the  Turkish 
authorities  for  having  done  so.  In  Birajek  a  woman 
ascended  the  roof  of  a  house  in  which  a  great  number  of 
Christians  had  taken  refuge,  and  waving  a  white  flag,  declared 
that  all  had  become  Moslems.  As  Mr.  Fitzmaurice  says, 
"  they  had  accepted  Islam  to  save  their  lives,  to  save  them- 
selves from  certain  death."  A  great  many  conversions  to 
the  Moslem  faith  had  been  made,  and  the  Government  had 
the  impudence  to  declare  that  they  were  voluntary  con 


THE  ARMENIAN  MASSACRES  i6i 

versions.  One  of  the  objects  of  Mr.  Fitzmaurice's  visit  was 
to  learn  whether  this  statement  was  true  or  false.  He 
found  it  false.  Even  when  he  was  there  the  fanatics  were 
determined  to  kill  any  convert  who  renounced  Islam. 

The  most  cruel  outrage  in  the  Armenian  massacres  took 
place  in  the  Armenian  cathedral  at  Urfa,  on  Sunday, 
December  29, 1896.  The  Christians  had  been  deceived  by  a 
Moslem  mob  into  believing  that  they  would  be  unmolested 
in  the  great  church ;  and,  on  the  Sunday  morning,  at 
least  3,000  persons  had  there  assembled.  When  Mr. 
Fitzmaurice  saw  it  he  was  able  to  read  on  one  of  the  pillars 
of  the  church  a  record  by  the  priest  that  he  had  administered 
last  communion  to  1,800  members  of  his  flock.  These,  with 
other  Armenians,  were  intentionally  burnt  to  death  in  the 
cathedral. 

When  the  mob  broke  in  with  a  rush  they  killed  all  who 
were  on  the  ground  floor,  these  being  nearly  all  men,  the 
women  and  children  being  in  the  gallery.  They  mockingly 
called  on  Christ  to  prove  that  He  was  a  greater  prophet  than 
Mahomet.  In  the  meantime,  while  revolver  and  other  shots 
were  being  discharged  against  the  occupants  of  the  gallery, 
native  mattresses,  yorghans  or  duvets,  the  straw  matting 
which  covered  the  floor,  and  other  combustibles  were  piled 
up  for  a  big  fire.  Thirty  cans  of  petroleum  were  poured  over 
them  and  fire  set  to  the  mass.  Abdul  Hamid  had  avenged 
himself,  and  a  deed  of  devilry  had  been  done,  worse  in  its 
extent  than  even  the  slaughter  of  Batak  in  Bulgaria  in  1876. 

Abdul  Hamid  became  emboldened  by  the  success  of  his 
own  savagery.  In  England,  France,  and  America  notices  of 
these  massacres  appeared  shortly  after  they  took  place. 
But  the  news  trickled  through  in  such  small  quantity  that  it 
did  not  create  anything  like  the  same  effect  as  the  news  of 
the  Moslem  atrocities  in  Bulgaria.  The  outrages  had  been 
confined  to  the  Eastern  portion  of  Asia  Minor. 

In  1897,  however,  Abdul  Hamid  tried  a  bolder  move  in 
Constantinople  itself.  Once  more  the  forces  of  disorder 
were  carefully  organised  to  attack  the  Armenians.  Once 
more  the  slaughter  was  to  be  indiscriminate.    The  word  was 

M 


i62       FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

passed  that  if  the  Armenian  guardians  of  shops  and  offices, 
together  with  the  hamals  or  porters,  could  be  killed  off,  their 
places  could  be  taken  by  Turks  and  Kurds  from  the  interior. 
In  preparation  for  the  massacre,  sticks  or  clubs  were  pre- 
pared, largely  fitted  with  a  piece  of  "  angle  iron,"  and  at  a 
given  signal  Moslem  mobs  with  zaptiehs,  or  poUcemen, 
accompanying  them  paraded  Stambul,  Galata,  and  Pera,  with 
the  object  of  killing  every  Annenian  they  could  find.  No 
European  was  molested.  My  son  was  out  in  the  streets  of 
Galata  and  told  me  he  saw  an  old  man  get  one  heavy  knock 
on  the  head  and  fall  dead.  Immediately  beneath  my  own 
chambers  was  a  small  but  quite  respectable  cai€,  much 
frequented  by  Armenians.  The  Moslem  mob  burst  in  and 
killed  six  persons.  One  managed  to  escape  from  the  back 
door  and  climbed  up,  in  a  way  that  I  should  have  thought 
impossible,  to  a  window  which  belonged  to  a  back  room  of 
my  chambers.     He  was,  of  course,  allowed  to  enter. 

Meantime  Europeans  who  had  Armenians  in  their  employ 
closed  and  barricaded  their  doors,  which  are  usually  of  iron 
in  the  best  part  of  Galata,  and  awaited  events.  My  son, 
curious  to  know  what  was  going  on  in  the  immediate 
neighbourhood,  put  his  head  out  of  the  window,  and  im- 
mediately saw  a  Turkish  soldier  level  his  rifle  against  him. 
He  withdrew  in  time.  The  streets  of  Galata  and  of  Stambul 
were  full  of  fugitive  Armenians,  followed  by  the  Moslem 
dregs  of  the  population  cirmed  with  the  sticks  and  clubs  I 
have  mentioned,  and  hence  called  sopajis.  One  of  my 
Armenian  hamals  had  been  sent  upon  an  errand  when  the 
outbreak  took  place.  He  saw  his  feUow  countrymen  being 
killed  and  took  shelter  amid  the  intricacies  of  the  sub- 
structure of  old  Galata  Bridge.  There  during  the  rest  of  the 
day  and  the  whole  of  the  night  he  remained  in  wild  alarm. 
On  the  next  day  he  ventured  to  get  on  board  a  neighbouring 
steamer  going  to  Kadikewi  and  took  refuge  in  my  son's 
house,  but  the  adventures  through  which  he  had  passed  had 
turned  his  brain,  and  he  was  never  the  same  man  again. 

The  Armenians  generally  behaved  well  in  Constantinople. 
One  story  told  me  by  a  colleague  is  worth  mentioning.    He 


THE  ARMENIAN  MASSACRES  163 

was  working  at  the  powder  factory  at  Macrikewi,  was  an  old 
man,  a  skilled  and  steady  workman,  and  had  proved  himself 
such  dming  forty  years.  He  was  liked  by  his  Moslem  com- 
panions. When  the  mob  came  to  kill  all  the  Armenians  in 
and  about  the  factory,  an  old  fellow-worker,  who  had  an 
army  revolver  with  six  shots,  gave  it  to  him  with  the  remark 
that  he  could  not  protect  him,  but  that  he  might  take  the 
revolver  and  do  for  some  of  his  enemies.  The  old  fellow 
took  it  at  first  gladly.  Ten  minutes  after  he  brought  it 
back  to  his  friend,  thanked  him  and  said,  "  You  and  I  have 
always  been  good  friends,  but  I  have  never  soiled  my  hands 
with  a  man's  blood.  I  am  sure  to  be  killed  and  do  not  wish 
to  appear  in  the  presence  of  Allah  with  the  life  of  a  man  on  my 
conscience." 

I  must  tell  the  story  of  a  noble-minded  Quakeress,  Miss 
Burgess,  much  respected  by  all  the  British  community. 
She  had  established  an  orphanage  in  the  Armenian  quarter 
of  Kum  Kapou  in  Stambul.  I  have  often  been  at  the 
institution  and,  like  many  others,  have  wondered  at  and 
admired  her  great  humanitarian  work.  She  had  already 
upwards  of  a  hundred  Armenian  girls  who  attended  her 
school.  She  had  other  useful  agencies  in  connection  with  her 
institution  giving  employment  to  Armenian  women,  who 
are  generally  skilled  in  embroidery  and  other  forms  of 
needlework.  When  the  attack  upon  the  Armenians  com- 
menced this  quarter  was  one  of  the  first  aimed  at.  Hundreds 
of  Armenians  in  the  neighbourhood  were  killed.  Miss 
Burgess  closed  her  doors  for  the  protection  of  those  confided 
to  her  care,  and  was  soon  visited  by  the  mob.  She  had 
already  sent  a  message  to  the  British  Consul,  a  distance  of 
about  two  miles,  who  replied  urging  her  strongly  to  leave  the 
plac&  and  come  over  to  Galata.  Those  who  know  Miss 
Burgess  would  know  the  indignation  which  she  put  into  her 
reply  that  she  was  not  going  to  leave  her  Armenian  girls 
unprotected.  She  would  share  their  fate.  Thereupon  the 
Consul  pressed  her  to  hoist  the  British  flag. 

When  she  received  this  message  the  rioting  had  become  so 
great  that  there  was  no  chance  of  sending  across  the  Golden 


i64       FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

Horn,  where  a  British  flag  might  have  been  purchased. 
Accordingly  she  determined  to  make  one,  and  her  efforts, 
as  she  told  me  the  story,  had  their  amusing  side.  They  had 
a  certain  quantity  of  red  and  of  blue  cotton,  and  many 
wiUing  hands  for  sewing.  But,  like  the  majority  of  EngUsh 
women,  she  had  crude  ideas  as  to  the  formation  of  the  Union 
Jack.  However,  they  made  the  best  that  they  could, 
stitching  the  white  and  blue  on  the  red.  Probably  the 
resemblance  was  sufficiently  good  for  deceiving  the  ordinary 
Turk.  They  managed  to  find  a  long  broom-handle  which 
served  as  a  flagstaff,  and  hoisted  the  flag  out  of  the  window, 
pulling  up  a  corner  and  fixing  it  in  such  a  fashion  that  only 
the  side  to  which  the  red  and  blue  were  sewn  could  be  seen. 
Presently  a  detachment  of  soldiers  came  round  and  the 
officer  asked  what  the  flag  meant.  The  answer  was  that  it 
was  British,  but  as  the  soldier  spoke  no  other  language  but 
Turkish  he  at  once  procured  the  attendance  of  an  officer 
who  spoke  a  little  French.  Once  more  asked  the  meaning, 
Miss  Burgess  referred  him  to  the  British  Ambassador,  and 
she  and  her  Armenian  children  were  not  further  molested. 

Though  I  am  anticipating,  I  may  as  well  add  some  further 
particulars  about  this  useful  institution.  Its  utility  and  the 
cathoHcity  with  which  it  was  managed  appealed  to  us  all. 
There  was  an  annual  meeting,  which  continued  down  to  1913, 
of  its  friends  and  supporters.  Sir  Nicholas  and  Lady 
O'Conor,  though  both  devout  Roman  CathoUcs,  took  great 
interest  in  its  work.  The  Rev.  Robert  Frew,  a  Scotch 
P*resbyterian,  was  always  ready  to  give  any  aid  he  could. 
The  Moslems  in  the  neighbourhood,  moved  by  the  self- 
sacrificing  spirit  of  Miss  Burgess  and  the  other  ladies  with 
her,  recognising  that  they  were  not  seeking  to  make  any 
profit  for  themselves,  came  to  respect  her  and  her  work. 

The  old  Iman,  corresponding  to  the  parish  priest,  dare 
not  visit  the  institution  before  the  Revolution  of  1908  broke 
out ;  but  once  religious  liberty  was  proclaimed  by  the  Young 
Turks,  went  there  to  express  delight  that  these  EngUsh 
foreigners  should  go  among  them  to  teach.  He  knew  that  in 
the  evening  schools  there  were  young  Moslems  as  well  as 


THE  ARMENIAN  MASSACRES  165 

Armenians,  and  that  the  same  attention  was  given  to  them 
as  to  the  Christians.  Then  he  became  curious  to  know 
what  the  religious  teaching  was.  He  had  often  heard 
singing  in  the  building,  but  now  he  entered.  Around  the 
walls  of  the  principal  room  were  a  number  of  translations 
into  Turkish  of  English  hymns,  but  in  Armenian  characters, 
and  he  was  interested  to  know  what  they  said.  He  got  an 
Armenian  to  read  them  and  then  wrote  the  words  in  Turkish 
characters  and  joined  lustily,  if  not  musically,  in  the  singing. 

Sir  Philip  Currie  acted  well  in  regard  to  the  massacres,  and 
induced  most  of  his  colleagues  to  join  him  in  representations 
to  the  Sultan.  Appointed  in  January,  1894,  he  was  absent 
on  leave  for  a  short  time  in  the  early  part  of  November, 
1895,  and  it  was  then  the  first  massacre  in  Constantinople 
occurred.  During  his  absence  Mr.  Michael  Herbert,  not  then 
knighted,  was  Charge  d' Affaires.  At  that  time  the  Embassy 
was  still  at  its  country  residence  at  Therapia,  and  even  there 
several  Armenians  were  killed,  and  one  victim  lay  dead  in 
front  of  the  Embassy.  Mr.  Herbert  saw  his  colleagues,  and 
after  a  good  deal  of  persuasion  obtained  their  consent  to 
send  an  open  telegram  to  the  Sultan  at  the  palace,  which  I 
quote  from  memory,  to  the  effect  that  this  thing  "  must 
cease  immediately  or  there  would  be  danger  to  the  throne 
and  to  the  djmasty."  The  sting  was  in  the  last  word.  The 
open  message  had  its  immediate  effect,  orders  being  at  once 
sent  to  put  an  end  to  the  massacre.  They  stopped  with  the 
same  precision  as  they  had  commenced.  Nothing  could 
have  been  better,  and  indeed  Mr.  Herbert  then,  and  in  every- 
thing he  did  in  Constantinople,  proved  himself  a  worthy 
representative  of  his  country. 

When  Sir  Philip  returned  he  took  up  the  same  strong  line 
which  Mr.  Herbert  had  initiated,  and  did  not  hesitate  to 
express  his  opinion  of  Abdul  Hamid's  conduct  with  the 
utmost  freedom.  Hence  he  became  hated  by  the  Sultan. 
Then  Abdul  Hamid  tried  one  of  the  mean  tricks  to  which  he 
was  addicted.  He  appointed  a  commission  to  enquire  into 
the  origin  of  the  massacre  in  Constantinople  and  named 


i66       FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

men  who  dared  not  express  any  opinion  of  their  own,  and 
who  were  certain  to  make  a  report  throwing  the  onus  of  the 
disturbance  upon  the  Armenians.  But  to  give  the  appearance 
of  wishing  to  have  an  honest  report,  he  placed  upon  the  com- 
mission my  dear  old  friend  General  Blunt .  Blunt  was  the  last 
remaining  gendarmerie  officer  who  had  been  brought  out  by 
Baker  Pasha,  when  Sir  Henry  Layard  had  persuaded  him 
that  if  he  would  name  a  number  of  EngUsh  officers  who 
should  be  employed  in  the  organisation  of  gendarmerie,  this 
would  have  a  great  influence  on  English  public  opinion.  As 
a  matter  of  fact  Blunt  was  an  honest  English  gentleman,  as 
incapable  of  lying  or  of  doing  a  dishonourable  act  as  any 
man  I  ever  met  with.  It  was  thought,  however,  by  the 
Sultan  and  his  gang  that  he  could  not  afford  to  ride  his 
salary  from  the  Sultan  and  would  sell  his  soul  for  the 
Padishah's  pay. 

The  commission  set  to  work,  and  inasmuch  as  the  killing 
of  the  six  Armenians  in  the  quarter  near  my  chambers 
already  mentioned  was  notorious,  the  members  came  to  collect 
evidence.  One  of  the  points  in  particular  which  they 
proposed  to  establish  was  that  no  soldier  or  gendarme  had 
accompanied  the  murderers,  or  countenanced  them.  My 
son  told  his  story,  and  the  stupid  commissioners  tried  to 
persuade  him  that  he  had  been  mistaken.  It  was  more 
than  they  could  do.  When  they  had  written  their 
report,  in  Turkish  of  course,  they  wished  him  to  sign  it 
without  having  it  translated  to  him.  When  they  refused  he 
decUned  to  sign  it,  and  made  a  report  of  what  he  had  done  to 
Sir  Philip.  The  Ambassador  told  me  that  he  had  heard  of 
similar  conduct  in  connection  with  other  people,  and  that  the 
whole  report  was  sure  to  be  so  ridiculous  that  he,  with  some 
of  his  colleagues,  had  refused  to  take  any  notice  of  it.  I 
believe  that,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  it  never  saw  the  light. 

While  the  outrages  were  going  on,  we  in  Constantinople 
constantly  heard  of  instances  of  EngUshmen  and  Frenchmen 
protecting  individual  Armenians  from  the  brutality  of 
Abdul  Hamid's  agents.    It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  most 


THE  ARMENIAN  MASSACRES  167 

decent-minded  people,  but  especially  those  of  England  and 
France,  were  engaged  in  a  tacit  conspiracy  to  defeat  the 
Sultan's  designs  against  the  Armenians.  They  acted  in  con- 
formity with  their  traditions  in  the  East,  because,  as  I  have 
elsewhere  said,  during  the  massacre  of  Chios  the  British  and 
French  inhabitants  of  Smyrna  and  elsewhere  were  always 
ready  to  assist  the  desolate  and  oppressed,  even  at  consider- 
able risk  to  their  own  lives  and  property. 

Let  me  mention  two  such  cases  which  occurred  in  Con- 
stantinople during  the  worst  period  of  the  persecution  of 
the  Armenians  in  the  capital.  By  virtue  of  the  capitu- 
lations, under  which  life  under  Turkish  rule  was  possible,  no 
right  was  better  established  than  that  a  British  or  French 
ship  was  foreign  territory  upon  which  no  Turkish  police 
officer  could  enter,  except  by  the  permission  of  the  authority, 
British  or  French,  to  which  she  belonged.  The  indignation 
amongst  French  sailors  was  a  fine,  honest  sentiment,  and  to 
hear  a  French  captain  or  one  of  his  crew  denouncing  the 
brutalities  which  they  heard  of  as  being  perpetrated  on  shore 
did  one  good  and  improved  one's  knowledge  of  argot.  An 
Armenian  fugitive  took  refuge  on  board  a  Messagerie  steamer. 
Spies  were  always  on  the  lookout  in  the  harbour  for 
fugitives.  Half  an  hour  afterwards  a  Turkish  police-boat 
came  alongside  the  Messagerie,  and  the  officer  in  full  uniform 
mounted  the  ladder.  At  the  top  there  stood  a  sturdy  French 
boatswain  on  duty  to  see  that  no  unauthorised  person  went 
on  board.  When  the  Turkish  officer  reached  the  deck  the 
boatswain  respectfully  asked  him  what  he  wanted,  to  which 
the  reply  was : 

"  Don't  you  see  that  I  am  a  Turkish  officer  ?  That  is  all  I 
have  to  say  to  you." 

"  No,"  said  the  French  boatswain,  "  you  can't  come  here 
without  a  permit." 

"  But  I  am  coming,"  said  he,  and  began  to  draw  his 
sword. 

The  boatswain  seized  him,  pinned  him  by  the  arms,  and 
called  for  assistance,  which  was  very  willingly  given.  The 
Turk  spoke  French,  struggled  hard,  and  claimed  that  he  had 


i68       FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

the  right  to  search  the  ship.  Thereupon  the  boatswain  and 
others  tied  him  to  the  mast  and  took  his  sword  from  him. 
They  then  signalled  to  the  French  Dispatch  boat  or  Station- 
naire,  which  at  once  sent  a  boat's  crew,  who  carried  him 
off  to  the  Stationnaire.  Thereupon  the  captain  wrote  to 
the  Turkish  head  of  the  water  police  to  say  that  he  had  a 
Turkish  officer  on  board  who  had  been  trespassing  on 
French  territory,  and  that  they  were  prepared  to  give  him  up 
for  punishment.  When  the  incident  became  known  in 
Constantinople  everybody  was  prepared  to  give  a  cheer  for 
the  French  Johnny. 

A  still  more  striking  instance  occurred  at  Ismidt,  the 
ancient  Nicomedia.  There  was  and  is  in  that  city  an 
Armenian  Catholic  monastery  which  was  imder  French 
protection.  The  Governor,  knowing  that  such  an  act  would 
be  agreeable  to  his  imperial  master,  pulled  down  the 
French  flag  and  expelled  the  monks.  The  matter  was  at 
once  reported  to  the  French  Ambassador,  who  determined  to 
teach  the  Turk  to  respect  the  national  flag.  He  let  it  be 
known  that  next  day  his  ship  would  proceed  to  Ismidt  and 
that  he  would  publicly  reinstall  the  monks  with  the  French 
flag  floating  over  them.  Spies  brought  word  of  the  intended 
action  to  the  palace.  Abdul  Hamid  was  in  a  great  flurry 
and  excitement.  He  would  apologise  and  was  ready  to  make 
any  terms,  provided  that  this  pubUc  defiance  of  what  was 
apparently  done  under  his  authority  were  waived.  But  the 
French  Ambassador  and  captain  were  obdurate.  Of  course 
His  Majesty  would  apologise,  but  as  the  insult  was  pubUc  the 
reparation  must  also  be  pubHc.  Nothing  that  could  be  said 
and  nothing  that  was  said  could  induce  them  to  vary  their 
purpose.  The  ship  went  to  Ismidt,  the  men  were  landed 
with  fixed  bayonets,  the  French  flag  flew  aloft  at  the  head  of 
their  procession  through  the  streets  of  the  ancient  city,  and 
the  monks  were  reinstalled  in  the  monastery,  over  which  the 
French  flag  again  flew. 

The  incidents  are  mentioned  as  illustrating  the  healthy 
tone  of  British  and  French  opinion  in  Constantinople.  I 
would  gladly  add  illustrations  of  a  similar  spirit  amongst  the 


THE  ARMENIAN  MASSACRES  169 

Germans,  but  I  do  not  know  of  any.  Englishmen  and 
Frenchmen  insist  upon  expressing  their  opinion  on  such 
matters.  Germans  do  not.  I  know  many  Germans  in 
Turkey  for  whom  I  have  great  respect,  and  some  of  whom, 
notwithstanding  this  hideous  war,  I  hope  to  count  as  my 
friends  as  long  as  I  live,  but  at  that  time  in  Turkey  they 
seem  to  have  been  possessed  by  the  idea  that  it  was  in  the 
interest  of  their  country  that  they  should  do  nothing  to 
lose  the  favour  of  Abdul  Hamid.  Privately  they  expressed 
their  loathing  at  what  he  did,  and,  as  I  shall  have  occasion 
to  mention  later  on,  their  painstaking  and  singularly  able 
Ambassador,  Marschall  von  Bieberstein,  could  put  his  foot 
down  very  effectually  when  the  interests  of  his  country  or 
even  of  private  German  citizens  were  Concerned,  and 
certainly  never  gave  me  the  impression  that  he  regarded  the 
Sultan  with  more  respect  than  he  deserved. 


CHAPTER  XIII 


THE  TURKISH  METHOD 


Turkish  Fleet  Neglected,  but  Added  to  Under  Strange 
Grcumstances — Kutchuk  Said  Takes  Refuge  at  British 
Embassy — Is  Protected  by  Sir  Philip  Currie — Girding 
on  the  Sword  of  Osman — Hamdi  Bey — Allaverdi — 
Bishop  Wordsworth's  Visit — Lady  Currie 's  Popularity 
— ^A  Cultured  Woman — ^The  Spy's  Invitation — The 
Young  Turks'  Indiscretion — ^The  Secretary's  Dilemma 
— ^A  Counter  Offensive — An  Uncompromising  Retort — 
Espionage — ^The  Englishmen  and  the  Female  Spy — The 
Armenian  Patriarch — ^An  Impressive  Ceremony — ^The 
Patriarch's  Cordiality. 

THE  story  of  the  Turkish  fleet  during  Abdul 
Hamid's  reign  gives  the  measure  of  the  capacity 
of  this  sovereign  whom  it  pleased  sycophants  to 
speak  of  as  singularly  intelligent.  When  he  came  to  the 
throne  the  Turkish  fleet  was  probably  the  third  most 
powerful  in  the  world.  The  ships  made  a  gallant  show. 
During  the  summer  months  of  the  year  they  were  anchored 
in  the  Bosporus,  and  from  the  two  great  imperial  palaces  of 
Dolma  Bagsche  and  Cheragan  were  an  imposing  sight.  Two 
hundred  British  workmen  at  the  arsenal  on  the  Golden  Horn 
kept  them  in  good  repair  and  occupied  their  time  in  complet- 
ing new  ships. 

In  1876,  when  Abdul  Aziz  was  deposed,  the  fleet  took  a 
large  share  in  the  revolution.  When  the  successor  of  Abdul 
Aziz,  Murad,  was  deposed,  and  Abdul  Hamid  was  girded 
with  the  sword  of  Osman,  the  dominant  element  in  his 
character  soon  shewed  itself.  That  element  was  always 
suspicion.    The  ships  were  sent  into  the  harbour  of  the 

170 


THE  TURKISH  METHOD  171 

Golden  Horn  and  there  nearly  the  whole  of  them  remained 
until  his  deposition.  Within  five  years  of  his  accession  all 
the  British  engineers  and  workmen  were  sent  home,  with  the 
exception  of  about  half  a  dozen.  The  ships  were  neglected, 
their  boilers  were  not  attended  to,  and  they  steadily 
deteriorated.  Only  once  during  his  reign  were  any  of  them 
allowed  to  leave  the  Golden  Horn. 

During  the  Greek  war  of  1897  four  ironclads,  two  cruisers, 
and  five  smaller  vessels  were  sent  to  the  Dardanelles,  but 
were  never  allowed  to  go  any  farther.  The  larger  vessels 
were  unable  to  steam  more  than  six  knots  an  hour.  Abdul 
Hamid,  however,  purchased  twenty  torpedo  boats  from 
France.  When  delivered  in  the  Golden  Horn  they  were  duly 
paid  for,  and  then  it  seemed  that  they  had  answered  the 
purpose  for  which  they  were  bought.  They  remained  for 
years  almost  entirely  without  practice,  but  as  the^inisters 
who  had  made  the  purchase  had  received  their  commission, 
neither  they  nor  the  Sultan  seemed  to  trouble  themselves 
any  more  about  them. 

At  a  later  date  Abdul  Hamid,  however,  did  add  three  large 
ironclads  to  the  fleet,  and  the  story  of  their  acquisition  would 
make  a  good  subj  ect  for  opera  bouff e.  They  were  fine  vessels ; 
I  say  were,  for  during  the  last  six  months  two  of  them 
have  gone  to  the  bottom.  One  was  built  by  Armstrongs 
of  Newcastle,  a  second  by  the  American  firm  of  Cramps, 
and  the  third  was  either  built  in  France  or  by  Ansaldos 
of  Genoa.  They  were  ordered  between  1896  and  1900.  As 
already  mentioned,  the  ships  possessed  by  Turkey  were  not 
allowed  to  proceed  farther  than  the  Dardanelles.  Why 
then  did  the  Sultan  want  new  ships  ?  The  answer  is  to  be 
found  in  the  curious  intellect  of  the  Sultan. 

During  the  Armenian  massacres  the  property  of  subjects 
of  America,  France,  Italy,  and  Great  Britain  was  greatly 
damaged.  It  was  absolutely  right  that  the  Turkish  Govern- 
ment should  compensate  these  foreign  subjects.  The 
representatives  of  the  Powers  interested  demanded  com- 
pensation. The  Porte,  at  the  instigation  of  the  Sultan, 
refused  to  pay  anything,  maintaining  that  foreigners  must 


172       FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

suffer  the  damages  which  resulted  from  internal  disorder  just 
as  did  Ottoman  subjects.  But  the  Powers  knew  that 
these  outrages  had  been  ordered  by  Abdul  Hamid  himself, 
and  supervised  by  his  subordinates.  They  therefore  per- 
sisted in  their  demands  and  began  to  speak  in  a  tone  which 
necessarily  impUed  that  force  would  be  employed  to  obtain 
comj>ensation. 

Then  in  one  way  or  another  a  fine  opera  bouffe  solution 
occurred  to  Abdul  Hamid,  by  which  he  could  satisfy  the 
demands  of  the  respective  States,  and  yet  refuse  to  have  it 
shewn  that  he  had  recognised  the  validity  of  such  demands. 
He  sent  for  the  American  Minister  and  with  great  secrecy 
requested  that  Cramps'  agent  should  attend  at  the  palace. 
The  American  Minister  at  the  time  was  Mr.  Griscom,  a  young 
man  belonging  to  a  charming  family  representing  the  best 
type  of  American  Quakers.  Cramps'  agent  attended.  The 
style  of  ship  was  fixed  upon,  all  the  details  carefully  con- 
sidered, the  contract  duly  prepared  and  the  order  for  a  ship 
given.  Then  the  agent  was  informed  that  to  the  price  he 
must  add  the  siun  of  so  many  pounds,  being  the  amount 
claimed  by  the  American  Minister  as  compensation  for  the 
damage  done  to  American  citizens.  This  simi  was  to  be  paid 
to  the  Minister.  He,  of  course,  would  do  what  he  liked 
with  it. 

In  this  way  the  Sultan  judged  that  he  had  avoided  the 
recognition  of  American  claims  and  had  satisfied  the  Ameri- 
can Minister,  but  secrecy  was  strictly  enjoined.  When,  two 
or  three  days  afterwards,  I  mentioned  the  condition  at  the 
American  Legation,  astonishment  was  expressed  that  I 
knew,  and  I  had  to  give  the  assurance,  which  I  gave  very 
freely,  that  I  had  not  received  my  information  from  anybody 
connected  with  the  Legation.  In  fact,  it  had  then  become 
public  property.  A  like  procedure  was  gone  through  with 
Armstrongs  in  reference  to  the  British  claims,  and  with 
the  French  and  Italian  builders.  In  regard  to  Italy,  the 
proceedings  were  slightly  varied.  One  of  the  old  ironclads 
was  sent  to  Ansaldos  at  Genoa  to  be  repaired  and  fitted,  and 
the  Italian  claims  were  added  to  the  price. 


THE  TURKISH  METHOD  173 

The  new  ships  took  their  place  in  the  Golden  Horn,  and 
Uttle  was  done  to  them  until  about  1909.  The  British 
Government  lent  the  services  of  Admiral  Gamble  and 
subsequently  of  Admiral  Williams,  who  again  was  succeeded 
by  Admiral  Limpus,  who  remained  in  the  Turkish  service 
until  September  or  October,  191 4.  Let  me  make  a  state- 
ment which  will  not  be  disputed  by  anyone  who  knows  the 
Turkish  fleet.  Each  of  these  three  Englishmen  and  the 
other  British  officers  under  them  left  a  reputation  behind 
them  in  Turkey  of  officers  who  never  spared  themselves, 
worked  the  fleet  up  to  an  improved  state  of  efficiency,  and 
were  trusted  and  liked  by  the  Turkish  sailors.  The  Messudieh 
was  the  flagship  of  Admiral  Limpus  until  he  left  Con- 
stantinople. When  in  the  early  days  of  December  I  had  the 
pleasure  of  dining  in  Malta  with  the  Admiral  and  his  family, 
the  great  news  which  had  come  by  Marconi  was  of  the 
gallant  deed  done  by  our  submarine,  which,  after  waiting  for 
her  prey  for  eight  hours  under  Nagara  Point,  had  sunk  the 
Messudieh. 

It  was  during  the  period  of  Sir  PhUip  Currie's  ambassador- 
ship that  the  following  typical  incident  occurred.  Said 
Pasha,  commonly  known  from  his  short  stature  as  Kutchuk 
Said  (or  little  Said)  had  been  Grand  Vizier.  He  had 
previously  been  a  Minister  of  State  in  another  department, 
and  had  enjoyed  the  confidence  of  Abdul  Hamid.  But  he 
had  too  much  common  sense  not  to  recognise  that  the 
Sultan's  methods  of  government  were  ruining  the  country, 
and  there  came  a  time  when  in  its  interest  he  could  not 
yield  to  the  Sultan's  wishes.  Thereupon  Abdul  took  a  strong 
dislike  to  him,  and  it  became  a  matter  of  common  obser- 
vation that  the  Sultan  wished  to  get  rid  of  and  to  be  revenged 
on  him  for  his  unwillingness  to  become  his  imreasoning 
agent.  It  was  commonly  said,  indeed,  that  we  should  hear 
of  his  assassination.  Abdul  Hamid's  spies  had  become 
reckless  and  dogged  his  footsteps  through  the  streets  of 
Stambul  and  Pera. 

One  day,  accompanied  by  his  son,  a  boy  ten  or  twelve 
years  old,  Kutchuk  Said  observed  the  spies  following  him 


174       FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

more  closely  than  usual.  Accordingly  he  went  into  a  well- 
known  shop  called  the  Bon  March^.  The  spies  waited 
at  the  door  till  he  should  come  out,  but  apparently  over- 
looked the  fact  that  there  was  another  entrance  which  led 
into  a  street  near  the  British  Embassy.  Thither  with  his 
young  son  Kutchuk  Said  fled,  to  Sir  Philip  Currie.  He 
explained  the  situation,  expressed  the  belief  that  the  men  at 
his  heels  were  there  to  assassinate  him,  and  claimed  the 
protection  of  the  Ambassador. 

Sir  Philip  Currie  was  not  the  man  under  the  circimistances 
to  refuse  it,  nor  was  Lady  Currie.  The  refugees  were  made 
welcome,  and  remained  a  few  days  as  guests  of  the  Am- 
bassador. Lady  Currie  told  me  after  they  had  gone  that  the 
poor  man  was  evidently  in  a  terrible  state  of  alarm,  and  not 
only  begged  that  his  son  might  sleep  in  the  same  room  with 
him,  but  that,  although  two  beds  were  made  up  in  one  room, 
it  was  found  that  only  one  had  been  slept  in. 

Meantime  the  news  had  reached  the  palace  that  the  fugi- 
tive had  taken  refuge  at  the  British  Embassy,  and  the  Sultan 
sent  a  request  to  Sir  PhiUp  that  he  should  be  given  up.  Of 
course  Sir  Philip  refused.  He  went,  however,  to  see  the 
Sultan,  and  he  himself  told  me  the  story  of  his  interview. 
The  Sultan  objected  to  his  sheltering  any  Turkish  subject, 
and  asked  for  an  explanation.  "  Then,"  said  Sir  Philip 
Currie,  in  telling  the  story,  "  a  happy  inspiration  came  into 
my  mind."  Remembering  the  Arab  objection  to  giving  up 
one  who  had  eaten  in  your  tent,  he  boldly  informed  the 
Sultan  that  it  was  contrary  to  the  reUgion  of  Englishmen, 
"  just  as  it  is  contrary  to  yours  to  surrender  a  fugitive  who 
has  entrusted  his  Ufe  to  your  care."  The  Sultan  evidently 
felt  that  he  could  give  no  answer  to  such  a  statement.  It 
was  just  one  of  those  answers  which  appeals  to  the  best 
sentiment  and  traditions  in  the  Moslem  mind.  He  professed 
that  he  had  no  intention  of  injuring  him,  and  gave  assurances 
that  if  he  returned  to  his  home  nothing  more  would  be  said 
or  done  against  him.  Accordingly  he  returned  home.  In 
fact,  his  purpose  had  been  answered  by  his  being  received  at 
the  British  Embassy.    It  had  made  the  fact  public  that  the 


THE  TURKISH  METHOD  175 

refugee  believed  that  he  was  to  be  assassinated  by  order  of 
the  Sultan,  and  his  seeking  refuge  from  such  a  fate  made  it 
highly  unlikely  that  the  wily  Sultan  would  commit  the  act 
which  he  had  probably  premeditated. 

Kutchuk  Said  died  two  or  three  years  ago.  The  last 
time  I  saw  him  was  on  an  interesting  occasion.  It  was  the 
day  in  1909  on  which  the  reigning  sovereign,  Mahomet  V. 
Reshad,  was  girt  with  the  sword  of  Osman.  The  ceremony 
took  place  in  the  mosque  of  Ejoib.  The  mosque  itself  has  no 
architectural  pretensions,  but  is  regarded  by  the  pious 
Moslem  with  more  veneration  than  any  other  in  Con- 
stantinople. No  unbeliever  is  permitted  to  enter  it.  Eyub 
or  Job  was  the  Standard  Bearer  of  the  Prophet,  but  was  a 
much  younger  man,  and  greatly  beloved  by  his  master.  He 
led  in  his  old  age  in  670  a  great  army  of  Arabs  and  other 
BeUevers  to  the  siege  of  Constantinople,  and  died  there 
during  that  siege.  When  in  1453,  nearly  800  years  after- 
wards, the  army  of  a  second  Mahomet,  belonging,  however,  to 
the  Ottoman  race,  besieged  and  captured  the  city,  the  body 
of  Eyub  was  alleged  to  be  found.  Thereupon  the  mosque 
called  after  him  was  built  over  the  grave,  and  at  once 
acquired  sanctity. 

The  favourite  burying-place  of  Turks  residing  in  Con- 
stantinople is  around  this  mosque.  I  have  myself  been 
turned  out  even  of  the  mosque  yard,  for  every  portion  of  it 
and  of  the  building  is  holy  ground.  Hence,  ever  since  the 
mosque  has  been  built  the  ceremony  corresponding  to  the 
coronation  has  taken  place  within  its  walls.  The  act  of 
girding  on  the  sword  of  Osman,  the  founder  of  the  dynasty, 
belongs  by  right  to  the  Superior,  or,  as  he  is  called,  the 
ChiUbi,  of  the  Mehlevhi  Dervishes,  who  resides  usually  at 
Konia,  the  ancient  Iconium.  On  such  an  occasion  the  Turks 
make  a  fine  display. 

Unaware  that  there  would  be  any  chance  of  my  getting 
into  the  mosque,  I  had  managed  to  be  in  a  carriage  with  my 
daughter  on  a  road  in  Stambul  where  the  imperial  cortege, 
consisting  of  the  Sultan  and  all  his  Ministers,  all  profusely 
decorated,  would  pass.    My  daughter  had  taken  with  her  a 


176       FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

kodak  and  had  made  some  successful  snaps.  I  left  her  in  the 
carriage  for  a  few  minutes  when,  near  the  shore  of  the  Golden 
Horn  at  Balata  (the  ancient  Palatium)  I  saw  an  Admiralty 
boat,  and  to  my  surprise  met  Kutchuk  Said.  The  Ad- 
miralty boat  came  alongside  to  receive  him  and  I  turned 
away  so  as  not  to  lose  sight  of  the  carriage.  To  my  surprise 
I  heard  my  name  called,  and  saw  that  Kutchuk  Said  had 
entered  the  boat  and  that  it  was  he  who  was  caUing  me.  He 
took  it  for  granted  that  I  should  enter  it  with  him,  and 
promised  kindly  to  place  me  in  a  good  position  within  the 
mosque  for  seeing  the  whole  ceremony.  I  reluctantly  had 
to  explain  that  I  could  not  leave  my  daughter  alone,  and  I 
thus  missed  a  chance  of  seeing  a  rare  spectacle. 

TOiile  on  the  subject  of  the  coronation,  I  may  mention  a 
conversation  that  I  had  with  my  old  friend  Hamdi  Bey, 
director  of  the  Imperial  Museum,  in  reference  to  a  proposed 
picture  connected  with  the  ceremony.  Hamdi  exhibited 
for  many  years  in  succession  at  the  Salon  in  Paris,  and  for 
two  years  in  the  Royal  Academy  in  London.  One  of  the 
pictures,  called  Le  jeune  Emir  a  V etude,  was  purchased  by 
the  Liverpool  Art  Gallery.  I  believe  I  am  the  only  man  in 
Turkey  whose  portrait  Hamdi  Bey  painted.  He  had  many 
studies  in  hand  for  his  contemplated  picture  when  he  died, 
about  three  years  ago,  for  the  picture  in  question  was 
well  adapted  to  his  talent  and  an  excellent  subject  for  a 
painter.  There  existed  a  custom  amongst  the  early  Tiu"ks 
which  has  not  altogether  disappeared.  After  the  Sultan  had 
been  girt  with  the  imperial  sword  he  was  led  out  of  the 
mosque,  near  a  heap,  presmnably  a  rubbish  heap,  upon  which 
lay  the  corpse  of  his  predecessor  covered  with  a  sheet.  As 
he  passed  it  the  Sheik-Ul-Islam  raised  the  sheet  and  said  in 
a  loud  voice,  pointing  to  the  corpse,  "  Padishah,  as  that 
thing  is  so  wilt  thou  one  day  be.  Be  just  and  merciful." 
On  my  many  visits  to  Hamdi  I  was  always  interested  to  see 
the  studies  which  he  had  made  for  a  picture  representing  the 
Sheik  in  his  gorgeous  cream-coloured  robes  raising  the  sheet. 

Poor  Hamdi,  liked  by  all  of  us  who  knew  him,  had  always 
an  eye  for  the  picturesque.    When,  mainly  through  the 


THE  TURKISH  METHOD  177 

influence,  I  believe,  of  Sir  Arthur  Evans,  Mr,  Hogarth,  and 
Sir  WUliam  Ramsay,  the  University  of  Oxford  bestowed  upon 
him  the  degree  of  D.C.L.,  that  which  most  impressed  him, 
he  told  me,  was  the  artistic  grouping  at  the  conferring  of 
degrees.  He  had  forty  decorations,  and  the  degree  conferred 
upon  him  at  Oxford  was,  I  understood,  the  one  most  highly 
valued. 

While  on  the  subject  of  Turkish  sentiment,  partly  racial 
and  partly  religious,  such  as  that  to  which  I  have  alluded  of 
protecting  a  refugee,  I  may  tell  a  story  which  is  generally 
believed,  and  se  non  e  vero  is  certainly  ben  trovato,  by  which 
I  mean  that  it  is  plausible  and  may  have  been  true,  A  well- 
known  family  of  Armenians  in  Constantinople  is  called 
Allaverdi,  and  the  traditional  explanation  of  the  name 
is  the  following.  Towards  the  end  of  the  eighteenth 
century  there  were  three  brothers  whose  surname  does  not 
matter,  because  even  to  this  hour  outside  Constantinople 
and  other  cities  a  surname  is  usually  unknown.  The  three 
in  question  had  become  rich,  and  therefore  excited  the 
cupidity  of  the  reigning  Sultan.  All  such  men,  being 
Christians,  were  squeezed.  The  three  were  accordingly  sent 
for  to  the  palace.  The  eldest  was  asked  how  he  had 
obtained  his  money.  He  replied  truly  enough  that  it  was  by 
commerce.  This  was  at  once  declared  to  be  impossible,  and 
his  property  was  confiscated.  The  second  was  brought  in 
and  asked  the  same  question.  He  said  that  he  was  a 
banker,  whereupon  he  was  informed  that  money-lending 
was  contrary  to  religion,  and  when  it  was  mentioned  that  he 
had  lent  money  to  a  Believer  and  charged  interest  upon  it, 
he  was  ordered  to  be  executed,  and  his  property  seized.  The 
third  brother  was  then  brought  into  the  room.  "  How  did 
you  acquire  your  property  ?  I  suppose  in  the  same  way  as 
one  of  your  brothers." 

"  No,  your  Majesty,  I  did  not.  Allah  verdi.  God  gave  it 
to  me,"  and  thereupon  the  Sultan  remained  silent,  and  the 
man  was  allowed  to  keep  the  property  so  acquired.  The 
reply  would  seem  to  a  non-Turkish  Moslem  to  be  inadequate 
imless  he  was  aware  of  the  curious  reverential  attitude 

N 


178       FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

adopted  by  Moslems  in  respect  of  certain  oaths  and  promises. 
The  use  of  the  word  "  God  "  is,  however,  curiously  common, 
and  would  not  lead  a  man  unaccustomed  to  Eastern  methods 
of  speech  to  connect  it  with  reverence.  Such  words  as 
"  Mashallah,"  "  Inchallah,"  "  BismUlah,"  and  half  a  dozen 
others  are  on  every  Turkish  tongue,  and  while  occasionally 
they  have  very  significant  and  serious  meanings,  they  are 
constantly  and  lightly  uttered. 

For  example,  in  Damascus  I  attended  a  fourth-rate 
exhibition  of  oriental  magic,  and  as  any  trick  came  off 
successfully  the  audience  shouted  "  Mashallah, "  by  which 
they  meant  nothing  more  than  clever  or  wonderful.  "  In- 
challah "  is  on  the  lips  not  only  of  every  Moslem,  but  of 
nearly  every  foreigner  in  Constantinople,  with  the  simple 
signification  of  "  May  it  be  so."  In  their  solemn  moments 
the  Turks  will  occasionally  swear  by  the  heads  of  their 
children,  and  in  such  case  they  are  to  be  beUeved. 

While  Sir  PhiUp  Currie  was  Ambassador  I  made  the 
acquaintance  of  Wordsworth,  Bishop  of  Salisbury.  I  had 
met  him  at  dinner  at  the  Embassy  and  foimd  that  he  was 
acquainted  with  my  historical  studies.  These  led  to  con- 
versation on  the  Eastern  Churches,  when  I  found  that  he  had 
a  mission  to  the  Orthodox  Patriarch  and  was  greatly  in- 
terested in  ecclesiastical  antiquities.  Accordingly  the  next 
day  we  went  together  to  visit  some  of  the  sites  which  have 
special  interest  for  ecclesiastics.  One  of  the  first  objects  to 
which  I  called  his  attention  was  a  large  baptismal  font  which 
had  once  been  within  the  church  of  Saint  Peter  and  Saint 
Mark,  now  converted  into  a  mosque.  Upon  such  conversion 
the  font  had  been  placed  outside  the  church  and  had  not 
been  seriously  damaged. 

The  Bishop  informed  me  that  he  considered  himself  an 
expert  in  fonts,  and  that  he  had  never  seen  one  hke  this 
before.  Like  the  fonts  in  all  ancient  Eastern  churches,  it 
was  intended  for  immersion.  In  form  it  is  a  trefoil,  and  upon 
what  one  may  call  the  stalk  of  the  trefoil  were  steps  leading 
down  into  the  water.  The  whole  had  been  made  out  of  one 
solid  block  of  marble.    He  took  measurements  and  made  a 


THE  TURKISH  METHOD  179 

careful  sketch  of  it.  Two  other  fonts,  larger  even  than  the 
one  mentioned,  are  now  to  be  found  in  the  Museum  gardens, 
of  which  one  came  from  the  neighbouring  church  of  St. 
John  the  Baptist.  They  are  cruciform,  and  in  the  centre 
was  a  stone  stool  on  which  the  priest  could  stand  without 
descending  into  the  water. 

We  next  visited  a  well  between  the  walls  of  the  city,  over 
which  was  probably  built  an  EngUsh  church.  I  say  "  pro- 
bably," because  another  site  has  been  suggested.  The  story  is 
a  curious  one,  and  the  Bishop  had  not  heard  it  before.  He  had 
heard  of  the  Varangians,  or  as  I  prefer  to  call  them,  the  War- 
ings,  and  of  the  Waring  Guard  which  had  been  attached  to 
the  palace  near  which  was  the  font  and  the  well  in  question 
as  early  as  945.  These  Warings  formed  a  trusted  bodyguard 
for  the  Emperor  from  that  date  until  1204.  A  Russian 
monk  tells  us  that  while  the  Warings  came  from  Russia  by 
the  Black  Sea,  their  regiment  was  constantly  recruited  in 
Constantinople  by  their  countrymen,  but  that,  after  the 
conquest  of  England  by  Wilham  the  Norman  in  1066,  a  band 
of  Enghshmen  sailed  out  to  Constantinople  and  founded  a 
church  which  they  dedicated  to  Saint  Augustine  of  Canter- 
bury. The  best  account  of  their  voyage  is  given,  however, 
in  an  Icelandish  saga,  a  translation  of  which  was  given  in 
the  English  Historical  Review  (about  1880).  Dr.  A.  van 
Millingen  favours  the  opinion  that  St.  Augustine's  church 
was  the  one  mentioned  over  the  well.  The  late  Canon 
Curtis,  who  took  an  interest  in  the  question,  beUeved  that  the 
church  was  half  a  mile  distant,  at  Bogdan  Serai,  the  ruins 
of  which  were  destroyed  as  recently  as  1913.  The  subject 
of  the  Warings  is  of  peculicir  interest,  because  the  English 
from  that  time  acquired  a  reputation  for  love  of  justice 
which  they  have  never  lost  in  the  East. 

Bishop  Wordsworth,  on  his  return  to  England,  wrote  an 
interesting  and  valuable  pamphlet  on  his  visit  to  the  Eastern 
churches. 

A  few  words  must  be  said  about  Lady  Currie.  The 
Ambassador's  wife  in  Constantinople  is  almost  necessarily  an 
important  personage.    As  there  is  no  court  in  the  European 


i8o       FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

sense,  the  Turkish  ladies  of  course  never  taking  part  in 
assemblies  where  men  are  present,  each  Embassy  is  a  centre 
of  society,  not  merely  for  those  who  belong  to  the  same 
nationaUty  as  the  Ambassador,  but  for  members  of  all  the 
other  Embassies  and  Legations,  and  the  principal  European 
families  residing  in  Pera.  The  wives  of  the  British  Am- 
bassadors have  generally,  though  not  always,  shone  con- 
spicuously in  these  functions.  Very  often,  indeed,  the  wives 
of  the  Secretaries  have  added  Sclaf  to  the  semi-pubUc 
functions  of  the  Embassies,  and  I  would  wiUingly  mention 
two  or  three  by  name  who  have  shone  brilliantly,  but  for 
the  impertinence  of  bringing  in  their  names  and  the  un- 
willingness to  hurt  the  feelings  of  others  whose  names  I 
should  omit.  As  a  centre  of  social  Ufe  Lady  Currie  was  a 
success,  and  was  especially  beloved  by  ladies  of  the  British 
community. 

As  the  writer  of  a  really  remarkable  drama  on  Queen  Mary 
and  other  contributions  to  literature,  she  brought  with  her  a 
reputation  to  Constantinople.  She  had  an  exceptional 
knowledge  of  English  Uterature,  and  in  London,  before  her 
marriage  to  Sir  Philip,  had  been  the  centre  of  a  group  of 
Hterary  and  dramatic  men  and  women,  which  gave  her 
gatherings  great  interest  to  us  in  Constantinople.  Few 
things  were  more  charming  than  the  long  talks  we  had 
together  on  hterary  men  and  things.  She  would  say,  in  her 
delightful  manner,  "  Let  us  drop  all  these  questions  about 
Constantinople  and  get  into  a  brighter  atmosphere.  Have 
you  read  's  book  ?  "  Or  she  would  lead  the  con- 
versation into  an  artistic  or  hterary  channel.  Had  she  lived 
in  the  reign  of  Louis  XIV.  she  would  have  been  the  lady 
of  a  salon  which  would  have  been  the  gathering-place  of 
artists  and  hterary  men,  and  the  elite  of  the  intellect  of  Paris. 
Her  lot,  however,  was  cast  for  the  time  in  Constantinople, 
where,  though  she  never  complained,  I  feel  sure  that  she  was 
bored  by  her  entourage.  She  was  always  ready  at  the  same 
time  to  do  what  she  could  for  the  poorer  members  of  the 
British  community,  and  took  great  interest  in  our  Enghsh 
High  School  for  Girls. 


THE  TURKISH  METHOD  i8i 

She  and  her  husband  continued  till  the  end  to  be  greatly 
in  love  with  each  other.  If,  as  rumour  stated,  the  marriage 
was  due  to  the  pressing  request  of  Queen  Victoria,  my  only 
observation  is  that  such  interference  was  one  more  of  the 
kindly  acts  attributed  to  the  Queen,  whose  relations  with  her 
large  family  were  a  model  to  her  subjects. 

It  was  at  one  of  her  receptions  that  an  incident  occurred 
which  I  feel  bound  to  narrate,  because  it  has  already  got  into 
print  in  a  not  quite  correct  form.  Going  one  afternoon  to 
one  of  Lady  Currie's  pubHc  receptions,  after  a  few  words  to 
the  hostess  a  man  came  up  to  me,  asked  me  how  I  was,  and 
made  some  quite  unimportant  remarks.  Thereupon  a 
Secretary  of  the  Embassy,  who  of  course  knew  me,  came 
across  the  room  and  asked  did  I  know  that  man.  I  replied 
that  I  knew  him  by  name  and  had  seen  him  twice  before. 
Did  I  know  what  he  was  ?  My  reply  was  that  I  had  heard 
rumours  about  him  as  to  the  truth  of  which  I  knew  nothing 
whatever. 

"  Then,"  said  he,  "I  am  going  to  tell  you  who  and  what 
he  is.     He  is  a  spy  in  the  service  of  Abdul  Hamid." 

I  expressed  my  doubts. 

"  Wait  until  you  have  heard  my  story.  Last  week  he 
invited  a  correspondent  of  the  Standard  to  dinner  for 
Monday  to  meet  some  members  of  the  Young  Turk  Party." 

My  answer  was,  "  This  is  interesting,  because,  curiously 
enough,  he  invited  me  to  dinner  on  the  same  evening  and 
held  out  the  same  inducement." 

Said  the  Secretary,  "  Oh,  that  would  have  been  grand  for 
him  if  he  could  have  got  the  correspondent  of  the  Standard 
and  you  of  the  Daily  News  to  dine  with  him.  Why  didn't 
you  go  ?  " 

"  How  do  you  know  I  didn't  go  ?  " 

"  You  will  see  directly  how  I  know.  Why  didn't  you 
go?" 

"  Well,  since  you  press  me,  I  will  tell  you.  I  considered 
the  invitation  to  dine  with  a  man,  although  an  Englishman, 
of  whom  I  knew  nothing,  in  order  to  meet  Young  Turks,  as 


i82       FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

an  impertinence,  and  therefore  wrote  declining  and  pleaded 
a  previous  engagement.  It  is  not  prudent  in  these  times  to 
meet  members  of  the  Young  Turkey  Party  unless  you  know 
who  they  are  and  who  else  you  are  going  to  meet." 

The  Secretary  answered,  "  You  were  wise.  The  cor- 
respondent of  the  Standard  accepted  and  went.  At  the 
dinner  were  two  Young  Turks,  who  are  my  friends  and 
whom  you  know,"  one  of  them  being  still  a  distinguished 
Tiurkish  soldier.  They  spoke  freely  at  the  dinner  and 
then  their  host  wrote  a  report  to  the  palace  of  the  con- 
versation which  had  taken  place.  This  report,  by  good 
luck,  fell  into  the  hands  of  one  of  the  Sultan's  Chief 
Secretaries,  who  was  a  friend  of  one  of  the  Young  Turks  who 
had  been  present  at  the  dinner.  When  he  read  the  report  he 
became  greatly  alarmed,  because  he  recognised  that  if  it 
went  in  to  the  Sultan  the  Young  Turk  in  question  would  be 
exiled  at  least,  if  not  worse  treated.  Accordingly  he  sent 
for  the  two  Young  Turks  to  the  palace  and  shewed  them 
the  report.  He  pointed  out  the  gravity  of  the  statements  in 
it  and  the  probable  consequences.  At  the  same  time  he 
intimated  that  he  had  his  own  position  to  consider.  He 
would  be  dismissed  to  a  certainty,  or  perhaps  worse,  if  he  did 
not  present  the  report.  After  talking  over  the  matter 
with  them  for  some  time  a  brilUant  idea  struck  him.  "  You 
two  draw  up  a  report  of  the  dinner  and  mention  what  the 
EngUshman  (the  spy)  said."  This  they  did.  The  Secretary, 
after  reading  their  report,  approved  it.  "  This  will  do  very 
well.  Do  not  come  to  see  me  to-morrow,  but  be  about  the 
palace  so  that  if  I  want  you  you  can  be  found." 

Thereupon  the  Secretary  sent  for  the  Englishman  who  had 
given  the  dinner,  and  shewed  him  the  report  of  the  two 
Yoimg  Turks.  When  he  read  it  he  remarked,  "  But  this  is 
a  mass  of  lies."  The  Secretary  answered,  "  That  does  not 
concern  me.  My  duty  is  to  pass  in  both  reports,  and  leave 
His  Majesty  to  decide."  Then,  however,  he  hinted  that  if 
the  report  of  the  two  Young  Turks  got  into  His  Majesty's 
hands  he  would  cease  to  receive  the  large  monthly  pay 
which  he  had    been   getting.    The  Englishman   became 


THE  TURKISH  METHOD  183 

alarmed.  He  recognised  that  the  story  of  two  Turks  was 
likely  to  be  believed  in  preference  to  his  own,  and  begged 
the  Secretary  to  shew  him  a  way  out  of  the  difficulty.  The 
Secretary,  after  some  hesitation,  said  that  if  he  could  find  the 
Young  Turks  perhaps  they  might  agree  to  withdraw  their 
report  on  condition  of  the  EngUshman  also  taking  his  back, 
but  that  there  was  a  danger  to  him  personally,  because  if  it 
became  known  that  he  had  been  party  to  the  suppression  of 
a  report  the  consequences  might  be  of  the  gravest.  How- 
ever, he  called  a  messenger  and  asked  him  to  look  about  the 
palace  and  see  whether  the  two  Young  Turks  in  question 
were  there.  Without  very  much  difficulty  they  were 
found,  and  the  Secretary  in  presence  of  the  Englishman  gave 
a  little  informal  address  to  them  both.  If  the  Englishman's 
report  went  in  it  might  be  impleasant  for  his  two  Turkish 
friends  ;  if  theirs  went  in  the  Englishman  would  certainly 
lose  his  appointment.  But  he  was  most  anxious  for  his  own 
position.  After  talking  it  over  it  was  agreed  that  each  should 
take  back  his  report  and  give  his  word  of  honour  that  he 
would  refuse  to  admit  that  he  had  ever  made  one.  This 
course  was  agreed  upon. 

This  was  the  story  told  to  me  in  Lady  Currie's  drawing- 
room,  and  I  thought  I  had  heard  the  last  of  it.  A  few  days 
later,  however — it  was  in  the  depth  of  our  short  but  miserable 
winter,  with  any  amount  of  slush  in  the  streets — a  carriage 
drew  up  to  my  door,  and  X.,  the  correspondent  of  the 
Standard,  appeared.  It  turned  out  that  the  day  after  the 
dinner  he  had  gone  out  shooting  and  had  only  returned  that 
morning.  On  reaching  the  city  someone  had  informed  him 
of  the  story,  because  my  informant  the  Secretary  of  the 
Embassy  and  other  people  connected  with  the  Embassy 
spoke  openly  of  the  incident.  My  friend,  as  soon  as  he 
heard,  did  the  right  thing,  and  went  to  see  Sir  Philip  Currie. 
The  Ambassador  gave  him  a  version  of  the  incident  which 
corresponded  exactly  with  that  which  I  had  received. 

Thereupon  X.  had  driven  from  the  Embassy  to  the 
Englishman's  house,  had  seen  him  and  had  told  him  the 
story  that  he  had  heard  from  Sir  Philip  Currie,  adding  also 


i84       FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

that  he  had  learned  that  I  had  been  invited  to  the  same 
dinner.  The  Enghshman  admitted  that  I  had  been  invited 
but  had  dedined,  and  then  flatly  denied  that  he  had 
written  any  report  whatever.  He  professed  great  indig- 
nation that  such  a  story  should  be  set  about,  and  asked  what 
he  ought  to  do.  The  reply  of  the  correspondent  was  pat, 
"  I  am  not  telling  you  of  an  idle  rumour,  but  of  what  Her 
Majesty's  representative  says  of  you.  Your  duty  is  clear. 
Go  at  once  to  see  him  and  tell  him  what  you  have  told  me. 
If  you  do  not  you  will  never  be  allowed  to  put  your  foot  in 
the  Embassy  again,"  and  he  added  that  he  had  learned  that 
that  incident  was  now  common  talk  and  that  in  the  club 
to  which  he  had  obtained  an  introduction,  some  young  men, 
none  of  whom  was  an  Englishman,  had  pledged  themselves 
that  if  he  went  inside  they  would  take  him  by  the  hands  and 
feet  and  deposit  him  in  the  thickest  of  the  slush  in  Pera. 
"  You  have  no  need  to  ask  me  what  your  duty  is."  It  is 
sufficient  if  I  add  that  though  the  Englishman  in  question 
continued  in  the  service  of  the  Sultan  for  a  few  years  longer, 
until  he  was  expelled  by  virtue  of  a  very  useful  provision  in 
the  EngUsh  Order  in  Council,  he  never  again  put  his  foot  in 
the  Embassy  or  the  club  in  question. 

Espionage  was  indeed  in  full  swing.  At  first  it  was 
mostly  confined  to  Turkish  subjects,  but  the  numbers  of 
reports  of  spies  had  constantly  mentioned  foreign  subjects 
and  the  Sultan  became  obsessed  with  the  idea  that  foreigners, 
as  well  as  a  large  section  of  his  own  people,  were  conspiring 
against  him.  I  need  hardly  remark  that  in  any  community 
there  are  men  and  women  who  are  prepared  to  sell  their 
souls  against  cash  payment.  I  could  tell  many  incidents  of 
great  inconvenience  occasioned  to  foreign  subjects  by  spies. 
I  mention  one  more  case  as  illustrative  of  what  was  pretty 
comimon.  The  largest  hotel  in  Pera  was  and  is  the  Pera 
Palace.  An  English  visitor  having  business  in  Turkey,  but 
one  who  took  little  interest  in  the  politics  of  the  country, 
had  resided  for  some  time  at  that  hotel.  Probably  in  con- 
versation with  other  visitors  he  spoke  freely  of  the  mis- 
government  existing  in  the  country.      He  soon  observed 


THE  TURKISH  METHOD  185 

however,  that  there  was  a  lady  in  the  hotel  who,  when 
in  the  dining-room  and  in  the  general  saloon,  always  tried 
to  get  as  near  to  him  as  possible  and  was  evidently  listening 
to  his  conversation.  He  became  annoyed  and  ordered  the 
waiter  to  place  his  seat  at  another  table.  The  lady  gave 
similar  orders.  He  did  not  know  her  nor  wish  to  know  her, 
for  her  movements  led  him  to  believe  that  she  was  a  spy. 

On  one  occasion  when  she  could  not  get  near  enough  to 
hear  his  conversation,  she  placed  herself  at  an  angle  to  the 
looking-glass  where  she  could  follow  his  every  movement. 
In  the  hotel  it  soon  became  reputed  that  the  lady  was  a 
spy,  and  my  friend  boldly  went  to  the  manager  of  the  hotel, 
who  admitted  the  character  attributed  to  her.  He  declared 
that  he  would  send  her  away  if  the  visitor  insisted,  "  but," 
he  added,  "  if  I  do,  we  shall  have  to  take  in  another  the  next 
day."  Then,  becoming  confidential,  he  stated  that  she 
only  paid  three  francs  a  day,  the  usual  price  being  twenty- 
two  francs,  and  the  difference  being  paid  by  the  Government. 
The  lady  becoming  even  more  annoying  after  this  incident, 
the  visitor  in  question  was  driven  to  speaking  to  her,  and 
in  the  conversation  told  her  that  she  was  believed  to  be  a 
spy,  employing  the  word  itself.  I  had  met  her  on  two  or 
three  occasions  and  had  learnt  that  the  American  Consul- 
General  was  in  doubt  as  to  the  validity  of  her  passport.  I 
knew  also  that  she  had  become  known  to  the  British  Consul 
and  represented  herself  as  persecuted  by  the  British  visitors. 

On  a  certain  Sunday  the  EngUshman  came  to  my  house 
and  informed  me  that  he  had  told  the  woman  she  was  a  spy 
and  that  he  would  not  be  troubled  by  her.  Almost  im- 
mediately after  him  came  the  lady  herself,  in  a  condition  of 
burning  indignation.  I  knew  the  repute  that  she  bore,  I 
knew  also  that  the  American  Consul  looked  upon  her  with 
great  distrust,  and  that  she  was  living  at  the  most  expensive 
hotel  on  three  francs  a  day.  She  told  me  her  story,  wished  to 
take  proceedings  for  verbal  slander  against  the  Englishman, 
and  wished  to  retain  me.  I  spoke  very  plainly  to  her.  Such 
an  action  would  have  to  be  tried  before  a  British  jury. 
There  was  not  a  member  of  the  British  colony,  or  indeed  of  any 


i86       FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

foreign  colony  in  Constantinople,  who  did  not  loathe  the 
occupation  of  a  spy,  and  from  what  I  knew  of  the  Englishman 
I  was  sure  that  he  would  plead  that  the  statement  was  true, 
and  that  it  was  in  the  interests  of  the  pubHc  that  it  should 
be  known  that  she  was  a  spy.  She  used  all  her  powers  of 
persuasion  to  induce  me  to  take  up  her  case,  which  I  had 
told  her  from  the  first  I  could  not  and  would  not  do,  and  left 
the  house,  apparently  satisfied  with  my  explanation  and 
telling  her  friends  she  could  not  bring  the  action  because  I 
was  her  enemy. 

In  dismissing  her,  I  can  only  say  that  everybody  concerned, 
except  one  weak-minded  official,  whom  a  plausible  woman 
could  usually  bring  over  to  her  side,  was  glad  to  hear  the 
statement  that  if  she  brought  her  action  justification  would 
be  pleaded  and  proved.  She  continued  her  mischievous 
career  until  the  Revolution  of  1908,  and  then  disappeared 
from  Constantinople. 

Some  two  years  afterwards  I  had  a  visit  from  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Brown,  the  head  of  the  Oxford  Mission  in  Calcutta,  a 
mission  intended  specially  to  appeal  to  the  young  University 
men  of  our  Empire.  I  beUeve  that  he  had  twenty  Oxford 
or  Cambridge  men  under  him,  and  that  the  mission  was  of  a 
quite  exceptional  character,  both  on  account  of  the  scholar- 
ship possessed  by  his  staff  and  of  the  character  of  the  work  it 
was  doing.  His  visit  fell  on  Whit  Sunday,  old  style.  After 
lunch  we  went  for  a  walk  in  Stambul  to  see  some  of  the  less 
well  known  archaeological  objects  in  the  vicinity  of  the 
Hippodrome.  As  we  passed  near  the  Armenian  cathedral 
at  Kum  Kapou  I  mentioned  the  fact  and  suggested  that  we 
should  call  upon  the  Armenian  Patriarch,  who  was  an  old 
friend.  Mr.  Brown  at  once  said  that  there  was  nothing  he 
would  Uke  better  for  that  Sunday  afternoon.  I  did  not 
know  that  on  that  day  there  was  a  service  in  the  church 
peculiar  to  the  Armenians ;  but  when  we  reached  the 
building  and  I  enquired  for  the  Patriarch,  the  priest,  who 
knew  me,  said  that  he  was  certain  the  Patriarch  would  be 
pleased  with  my  visit,  and  almost  before  we  knew  where  we 
were  going  we  were  led  into  the  building  by  a  door  in  the 


THE  TURKISH  METHOD  187 

east  end.  We  saw  at  once  that  it  was  crowded  with  men, 
who  closed  round  us  and  ahnost  forced  us  towards  the 
Patriarch.  His  throne  faced  the  altar,  and  near  to  him,  also 
on  a  dais  but  a  step  lower  than  his,  was  his  chaplain,  who, 
seeing  us,  as  did  His  Holiness,  vacated  his  seat,  and  we  two 
were  seated  beside  the  Patriarch,  somewhat,  I  think,  to  the 
astonishment  of  the  congregation. 

The  ceremony  and  the  singing  went  on  uninterruptedly, 
and  the  Patriarch,  after  expressing  his  astonishment  at  my 
visiting  him  there,  at  once  added  that  I  could  not  have  come 
on  a  more  interesting  occasion.  The  ceremony  which  was  in 
progress  was  only  to  be  seen  in  the  Armenian  Church,  and 
was  celebrated  annually  on  their  Whit  Sunday.  After  I  had 
introduced  Mr.  Brown  as  a  clerg5mian  of  our  Church  and 
from  Calcutta,  where  there  are  a  great  number  of  Armen- 
ians, the  Patriarch  gave  an  explanation  in  French  of  the 
ceremony  as  it  proceeded.  The  altar  immediately  in  front 
of  us,  at  the  distance  of  about  thirty  feet,  had  a  screen  in  the 
form  of  a  semi-circle  before  it,  which  represented  a  walled 
city.  After  a  long  hymn  a  procession  of  priests  went  before 
the  screen  and  knocked  ceremoniously  three  times,  asking  for 
admittance.  It  was  refused  after  two  demands.  After  the 
third  the  enquiry  was  made  from  the  other  side  of  the  screen 
for  whom  admittance  was  demanded.  The  answer  was, "  The 
Lord  of  Hosts."  Then  the  screen  fell  down  and  we  saw  the 
altar  fully  illuminated  and  with  all  its  sacred  vessels. 
The  brilliant  display  was  followed  by  a  hymn  of  triumph, 
every  incident  being  eagerly  watched  by  a  packed  con- 
gregation. 

After  that  the  Patriarch  said  to  us,  "  I  have  to  preach,  but 
shall  not  be  more  than  ten  minutes.  Don't  go  away,  because 
I  want  to  have  a  long  talk  with  you."  Thereupon  he  was 
conducted  from  his  throne  to  the  platform,  about  three  feet 
high,  on  which  the  altar  was  placed,  and  there  delivered  a 
stirring  address.  Though  neither  of  us  could  understand  a 
word  of  Armenian,  we  yet  recognised  the  power  of  an  orator. 
The  day  was  very  hot.  The  robes  of  a  Patriarch  are  very 
heavy,  and  we  saw  that  the  physical  exertion  was  necessarily 


i88      FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

great.  The  service  concluded  a  few  minutes  after  the 
Patriarch's  address  and  he  at  once  was  conducted  outside 
the  church  by  the  door  at  which  we  had  entered.  He  had 
left  word,  however,  that  we  in  passing  out  were  to  wait  for 
him  at  his  official  residence. 

We  both  thought  that  the  kindest  thing  to  do  was  simply 
to  leave  our  cards  and  not  bother  him,  but  at  the  gate  we 
found  that  he  had  left  so  earnest  a  message  that  we  went 
into  his  private  room,  where,  after  he  had  had  time  to  get  out 
of  his  heavy  robes,  he  joined  us.  After  learning  all  that  he 
could  of  the  condition  of  the  Armenians  in  Calcutta,  and 
giving  my  friend  particulars  of  the  massacres  that  had 
occurred  round  the  building  where  we  then  were,  he  declared 
that  he  did  not  beUeve  there  was  a  man  in  the  congregation 
who  had  not  lost  either  a  relation  or  a  friend,  that  each 
victim  could  have  saved  his  life  had  he  been  willing  to  raise 
his  two  fingers  and  abandon  his  faith,  but  that  he  was  proud 
to  say  he  did  not  believe  that  in  Constantinople  any  had 
saved  their  lives  by  such  apostasy. 


CHAPTER  XIV 


SIR  NICHOLAS  O  CONOR 


Sir  Nicholas  O'Conor  at  Constantinople — Our  Meeting 
at  Sofia — Stambuloff  Sends  For  Me — My  Lost  Luggage 
— I  Enter  the  Palace  Looking  Like  a  Brigand — Stam- 
buloff Comes  to  See  Me  Off — The  State  of  Macedonia — 
Robber  Chiefs  as  Protectors — ^Exodus  of  the  Inhabi- 
tants— Hilmi  Pasha's  Reforms  Shelved — ^The  Rival 
Churches — An  Appeal  to  Rome — The  Eternal  Question 
of  Reform — ^Formation  of  a  Revolutionary  Party — ^Dr. 
Nazim's  Adventures. 

SIR  PHILIP  CURRIE  was  succeeded  in  1898  as 
Ambassador  by  Sir  Nicholas  Roderick  O'Conor. 
It  was  when  dining  with  him  and  Mrs.  O'Conor 
(Sir  Nicholas  was  not  then  knighted)  years  previously  at 
Sofia,  that  I  received  an  invitation  which  led  to  my  first 
important  interview  with  Stambuloff,  the  stern  patriot- 
premier  of  Bulgaria,  and  that  under  very  curious  circum- 
stances. I  was  fairly  well  acquainted  with  several  of  the 
Bulgarian  Ministers,  some  of  whom  I  had  known  even  before 
the  establishment  of  Bulgaria,  and  for  one  of  whom  I  had 
worked  in  conjunction  with  Mr.  Schuyler  to  save  him  from 
being  hanged  as  a  Turkish  rebel.  On  the  occasion  of  the 
first  anniversary  of  Prince  Ferdinand's  accession  to  the 
throne,  I  arranged  to  pay  a  visit  to  Sofia.  There  was  to  be 
a  great  review.  The  princely  palace  was  for  the  first  time 
to  be  lighted  by  electricity,  and  there  was  to  be  a  ball  at 
which  everybody  of  note  in  Sofia  was  to  be  present. 

I  had  been  spending  a  holiday  in  Switzerland.  The 
weather  was  hot  and  dusty,  and  at  that  time  there  was  no 
Orient  Express  and  no  sleeping-cars   on  the  train.     In 

X89 


190      FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

consequence  I  travelled  in  an  old  suit  with  an  old  white  wide- 
awake hat,  intending,  of  course,  when  I  reached  Sofia,  to 
change.  As  the  train  passed  through  Hungary  the  conductor 
requested  all  passengers  to  examine  the  numbers  of  their 
registered  luggage  tickets,  and  to  see  whether  a  certain 
number  which  he  mentioned  was  on  them.  I  found  that  the 
number  wanted  was  on  my  ticket,  and  the  conductor  then 
regretted  to  say  that  my  luggage  had  been  left  behind  some- 
where. As  to  the  whereabouts  he  could  give  me  no  infor- 
mation. Accordingly  I  left  the  train  at  Sofia  with  nothing 
but  the  suit  in  which  I  stood  and  a  small  handbag  containing 
the  necessaries  for  a  night. 

I  went  to  the  best  hotel,  practically  the  only  one  in  Sofia, 
and  secured  a  bed.  Then  I  paid  a  call  on  the  British  Agent, 
Mr.  (afterwards  Sir  Nicholas)  O'Conor.  I  had  not  met 
either  him  or  his  wife,  but  I  think  we  took  a  liking  to  each 
other  from  the  first,  one  which  I  am  happy  to  say  continued 
until  his  death.  He  asked  me  to  dinner.  I  pointed  to  my 
disreputable  looking  clothes  and  asked  how  I  could  possibly 
come  to  dinner  in  that  fashion.  He  replied  that  he  would 
keep  me  company  and  would  not  dress.  Accordingly  I  went 
to  dinner  in  the  evening,  passing  the  palace,  which  in  a 
blaze  of  electric  light  was  an  astonishment  to  all  the  natives. 
In  addition  to  Mrs.  O'Conor  there  was  only  one  other  guest, 
whose  name  I  have  forgotten. 

At  ten  o'clock  Mr.  O'Conor  went  off  with  the  visitor  on  a 
matter  of  business  which  he  declared  would  not  keep  him 
more  than  a  quarter  of  an  hour,  and  Mrs.  O'Conor  and  I  sat 
out  on  the  balcony  under  the  lovely  moonlight  of  a  table- 
land 2,300  feet  above  sea-level,  and  conversed  on  many  in- 
teresting topics.  Ten  minutes  after  her  husband  had  left 
we  saw  an  aide-de-camp  drive  up  at  full  gallop  after  Russian 
fashion,  which  the  Bulgarians  at  that  time  always  followed. 
He  was  asked  to  come  forward  and  then  stated  that  he  came 
with  M.  Stambulofi's  compliments  to  me,  to  say  that  he  had 
only  just  heard  that  I  was  in  Sofia  and  begged  me  to  go  round 
to  the  palace  to  see  him.  I  pointed  to  my  clothes  and  asked 
the  aide  to  say  that  I  had  arrived  that  morning  but  had  lost 


SIR    NICHOLAS    R.   O  CONOR 


RUiott  &■  Fry,  Ltd. 


SIR  NICHOLAS  O'CONOR  191 

my  luggage,  and  that,  as  he  would  see,  I  was  in  no  condition 
to  present  myself  at  the  palace,  but  that  I  should  be  glad  to 
call  upon  M.  Stambuloff  in  the  morning. 

The  A.D.C.  drove  off  at  the  same  pace  at  which  he  had 
arrived,  and  ten  minutes  later  returned  with  a  message  that 
M.  Stambuloff  wished  to  see  me  and  not  my  clothes,  and 
that  he  would  take  it  as  a  great  favour  if  I  would  return  with 
the  aide-de-camp.  I  hesitated  as  to  my  action,  but  Mrs. 
O'Conor,  speaking  in  EngUsh,  which  we  had  learned  that 
the  A.D.C.  did  not  understand,  suggested  that  I  should 
go,  because  at  that  time,  the  relations  between  England 
and  Bulgaria  being  strained,  the  Prince  not  being  yet 
recognised  by  England,  if  I  did  not  go  it  would  be  thought  it 
was  the  influence  of  Mr.  O'Conor  which  prevented  me  from 
doing  so.  Once  that  suggestion  was  made  I  immediately 
decided  to  return  with  the  A.D.C. 

In  a  few  minutes  we  were  at  the  palace,  and  as  I  entered 
the  large  hall,  M.  Stoiloff,  already  a  Minister  and  subse- 
quently Premier,  and  three  or  four  more  of  the  Ministers  to 
whom  I  was  known,  came  forward  to  express  their  satisfac- 
tion at  seeing  me  in  Sofia.  While  we  were  shaking  hands,  M. 
Stambuloff  came  from  an  inner  room  to  express  satisfaction 
that  I  had  come,  and  I  repeated  my  excuse  that  I  was  not 
presentable.  He  took  me  by  the  arm,  and  we  went  at  once 
through  a  suite  of  three  or  four  rooms  in  which,  during  the 
interval  of  dancing,  a  great  many  men  and  women  were 
either  seated  around  or  were  promenading.  They  saw  their 
Premier,  to  their  astonishment,  arm-in-arm  with  a  man 
looking  as  much  like  a  brigand  as  could  be  seen  in  any  of  the 
Balkans,  carrjdng  in  his  hand  a  broad-brimmed  wide-awake. 

We  passed  through  into  the  garden,  which  was  also 
briUiantly  lighted,  and  walked  up  and  down  a  side  path  until 
about  a  quarter  past  twelve.  During  this  time  many  couples 
intentionally  passed  our  way  to  see  if  they  could  recognise 
who  the  brigand  was  to  whom  the  Premier  was  talking. 
However,  we  were  each  interested  in  the  other's  conversation 
until  the  time  just  mentioned,  but  we  both  felt  that  the  night 
was  getting  chilly  and  I  suggested  that  we  should  adjourn 


192       FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

the  conversation.  This  we  agreed  to  do  until  the  morning. 
Nothing  special  passed  in  our  morning  interview,  and  in  the 
afternoon  I  renewed  my  journey  to  Constantinople. 

A  friend  of  mine,  Baron  Hanley,  had  an  interview  with  the 
King  on  the  day  I  left,  who  remarked  to  him,  "  I  am  told 
that  Mr.  Pears  arrived  yesterday  in  Sofia  and  leaves  this 
afternoon.  He  says  that  he  lost  his  luggage."  Hanley,  in 
telling  the  story,  remarked  that  from  the  way  in  which  the 
King  made  the  statement  he  might  have  added,  "  That 
story  will  do  for  the  marines."  As  a  fact,  I  only  recovered 
my  luggage  three  months  later.  It  had  apparently  been 
left  at  a  wayside  station  on  entering  Hungary. 

The  latest  meeting  and  most  interesting  conversation 
I  had  with  M.  Stambuloff  was  a  few  years  later.  I  think 
it  was  in  1892.  I  had  received  the  honour  of  an  invitation 
to  dine  with  Prince  (now  King)  Ferdinand  at  Philippopolis, 
where  he  had  gone  to  open  a  local  exhibition.  I  was  accom- 
panied by  an  old  and  very  dear  friend.  Dr.  Long  of  Robert 
College.  M.  Stambuloff  was  still  Prime  Minister  and  with 
some  other  Ministers  was  also  a  guest  at  the  dinner,  but  I 
had  little  opportunity  of  conversing  with  him.  Dr.  Long 
and  I  had  arranged  to  return  next  day  to  Constantinople. 
We  went  to  the  railway  station,  which  is  about  half  a  mile 
from  the  town,  giving  ourselves  half  an  hour's  grace,  sat 
down  at  a  table  on  the  platform  which  was  crowded  with 
people  waiting  for  the  great  event  of  the  day,  the  arrival 
of  the  train,  when  to  our  surprise  we  saw  a  carriage  driving 
towards  the  station  accompanied  by  a  guard  of  soldiers. 
Two  minutes  afterwards  M.  Stambuloff,  accompanied  by  the 
station-master,  came  up  to  say  that  he  had  come  to  see  us 
off.  The  train,  we  had  already  learnt,  was  half  an  hour  late. 
The  crowd  naturally  pressed  round  to  see  Stambuloff,  but 
he  took  a  seat  at  our  table  and  the  station-master  cleared  a 
large  space  to  prevent  us  being  interrupted  or  heard. 

I  shall  never  forget  the  conversation  which  ensued.  It 
was  addressed  largely  to  me,  because  though  he  knew  my 
friend  well  by  name,  the  latter  was  not  aware  that  he  had 
ever  seen  him  before.    I  had  long  been  a  privileged  person 


SIR  NICHOLAS  O'CONOR  193 

with  the  Bulgarians,  who  were  and  are  very  grateful  for  the 
services  which  I  had  rendered  in  1876-78.  I  mention  this 
fact  only  to  explain  the  freedom  with  which  Stambuloff 
allowed  me  to  speak  to  him.  His  own  newspaper  had  been 
attacking  the  Czar  in  a  quite  outrageous  manner.  I  told 
him  that  I  thought  this  was  a  mistake  on  his  part ;  that  while 
he  was  naturally  and  justly  irritated  at  the  conduct  of  the 
Russian  diplomatists,  who  were  trying  to  treat  Bulgaria  as 
if  she  were  a  Russian  province,  it  was  neither  right  nor 
expedient  to  make  personal  attacks  on  the  Emperor  and  his 
family.  I  enlarged  on  this,  insisting  that  whether  the  state- 
ments were  true  or  not  it  was  unwise  to  make  them. 

Stambuloff  took  it  very  well,  but  his  reply  was  sub- 
stantially this,  "  I  know  Russia  better  than  you  do,  and 
when  you  are  dealing  with  a  Russian  you  must  use  the 
biggest  stick  or  the  best  weapon  that  comes  to  your  handsl 
You  must  hit  everywhere  and  all  round."  I  differed,  and 
we  discussed  the  question  fully  in  a  friendly  manner.  When, 
not  long  afterwards,  Stambuloff  was  brutally  murdered,  I  felt 
that  my  remarks  had  been  terribly  justified. 

Our  subsequent  conversation  turned  on  missionaries. 
Stambuloff  said  to  my  friend,  "  You  don't  remember  me. 
Dr.  Long,  I  see."  "  No,"  was  the  reply,  "  I  don't  think  I 
have  had  the  honour  of  seeing  you  before."  "  It  may  be  so, 
but  when  you  were  a  missionary  in  Tirnovo  I  saw  and  often 
heard  you  there.  In  your  small  congregation  I  was,  like  all 
boys  of  the  country,  clothed  in  shiac  (the  native  cloth),  and 
went  to  hear  you  under  these  circumstances.  The  talk  in 
the  town  was  that  an  American  had  come  to  it  and  was 
trying  to  bewitch  the  people  and  turn  them  away  from  their 
church.  They  said  that  if  people  attended  his  services  a 
spell  would  be  cast  over  them  ;  they  would  gradually  wither 
away  ;  and  all  sorts  of  hke  rubbish  was  said  about  you.  I 
was  about  fourteen  or  fifteen  at  the  time,  and  thought  I 
should  like  to  see  this  monster.  I  reflected  that  he  could  not 
eat  me,  and  I  did  not  believe  that  he  could  cast  any  spell  over 
me.  So  I  quietly  attended  your  service,  and  went  home 
declaring  that  all  you  had  said  was  good,  common  sense, 

o 


194       FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 
that  there  was  not  a  word  against  the  Orthodox  Church,  or 
against  any  other  institution  or  person  ;  and  what  you  said 
was  so  interesting  that  I  went  again  at  least  half  a  dozen 
times. 

"  Now,  I  know  that  you  are  no  longer  a  missionary,  but 
you  will  be  interested  when  I  tell  you  that  since  I  have  been  a 
Bulgarian  Minister,  and  especially  since  I  became  Premier,  I 
have  always  looked  with  sympathy  on  the  work  of  the 
American  missionaries.  They  are  invaluable  promoters  of 
civilisation.  I  especially  value  the  grand  work  which 
Robert  College  has  done  for  our  nation,  and  since  I  have  been 
Premier,  whenever  I  have  had  complaints  made  against 
American  missionaries,  I  have  mentally  remarked,  '  This  is 
the  old  rubbish  which  I  used  to  hear  as  a  boy.  These  men 
are  doing  the  work  of  civiUsation  and  I  am  going  to  protect 
them.'  All  my  personal  influence  in  favour  of  American 
missions  is  due  to  you.  Dr.  Long." 

StambulofE  on  this  occasion  spoke  fully  of  the  way  he  had 
cleared  the  region  near  to  and  south  of  Burgas  of  brigands. 
The  district  was  mostly  covered  with  forest,  and  being 
adjacent  to  Turkey,  the  brigands  crossed  the  boundary 
when  chased  by  Bulgarian  poUce.  For  a  while  no  respectable 
person  dared  enter  it.  But  through  his  energetic  measures, 
stem  and  unflinching  execution  of  judicial  sentences,  it  had 
again  become  habitable.  The  train  was  upwards  of  half  an 
hour  late  and  Stambuloff  waited  till  it  came,  always  interested 
and  interesting,  and  then  we  said  good-bye. 

Ever  since  the  Congress  of  Berlin  in  1878  the  condition 
of  Macedonia  had  forced  itself  upon  European  attention. 
But  public  opinion  was  weary  of  the  reports  of  Turkish 
outrages,  especially  in  Armenia,  and  British  newspapers  did 
not  care  to  trouble  their  readers  with  recounting  new  horrors 
in  Europe.  The  condition  of  Macedonia,  moreover,  was 
such  as  to  a  considerable  extent  to  divide  English  opinion, 
inasmuch  as  Bulgarians  attributed  the  condition  of  unrest  to 
the  intrigues  of  the  Greeks,  while  the  latter  were  quite  certain 
that  they  were  due  to  the  interference  of  the  Bulgajs.    The 


SIR  NICHOLAS  O'CONOR  195 

leading  Ministers  in  Turkey  were  divided  in  their  advice ; 
some  mistook  intrigue  for  statesmanship,  others  bUndly  did 
what  they  beheved  would  be  pleasing  to  the  Sultan,  and  not 
even  in  Austria  was  the  maxim  Divide  et  impera  more  fully 
acted  upon  than  by  Abdul  Hamid.  Turkish  soldiers  were 
stationed  throughout  the  whole  of  Macedonia,  and  reflected 
the  wavering  counsels  of  the  Government. 

The  facts  that  we  knew  in  Constantinople  were  the  follow- 
ing :  that  no  security  for  life  and  property  existed ;  that 
Turkish  soldiers  constantly  plundered  Bulgarian  and  occa- 
sionally Greek  villages  ;  that  bands  of  brigands,  sometimes 
wearing  the  uniform  of  Greek  and  sometimes  of  Bulgarian 
soldiers,  continued  to  devastate  the  country  ;  that  in  some 
places  a  group  of  villages  would  place  themselves  under  the 
protection  of  a  robber  chief,  would  contribute  to  his  support 
and  would  be  attacked  by  Greek  robbers,  the  Turkish  troops 
now  favouring  one  and  at  another  time  the  other  party  ;  that 
thousands  of  Macedonians  fled  the  country  and  took  refuge 
in  Bulgaria  or  Serbia.  Between  them  and  the  Bulgarians  in 
particular  there  was  natiurally  great  sympathy,  and  often 
close  family  relationship.  The  Turkish  authorities,  instead 
of  protecting  villages  which  were  attacked,  exacted  from  all 
of  them  as  much  money  as  possible,  now  protecting  the 
bands  of  Bulgarian  sympathisers,  but  usually  favouring  the 
Greeks.  National  feeling  ran  high.  A  brave  Greek  officer 
was  killed  and  I  possess  a  post-card,  naturally  in  Greek, 
commemorative  of  his  virtues  and  finishing  with  the  words, 
"  Death  to  every  Bulgar."  Murder  was  common.  Our 
Foreign  Office  must  contain  dozens  of  reports  sent  from 
various  places  in  Macedonia  describing  the  pandemonium 
amidst  which  the  writers  lived. 

Such  was  the  condition  in  Macedonia  when  Sir  Nicholas 
O'Conor  came  to  the  capital.  He  was  always  careful  not  to 
take  the  side  either  of  the  Bulgarians  or  of  the  Greeks,  but 
what  he  did  care  for  and  worked  hard  to  obtain  was  security 
for  Ufe  and  property,  and  even-handed  justice.  The  Porte 
was  urged  to  execute  reforms.  England  and  France  in 
particular    pointed   out    in   very    strenuous    terms    that 


196  FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 
Macedonia  would  be  lost  to  Turkey  if  such  reforms  were  not 
adopted.  Amid  much  exultation,  Hilmi  Pasha  was  sent  on 
behalf  of  the  Sultan  to  report  on  the  condition  and  to  suggest 
what  reforms  were  necessary.  Hilmi  had  honestly  made  a 
good  reputation,  and  European  well-wishers  to  Turkey 
believed  that  his  recommendations  would  be  truthful  and 
hoped  they  would  be  followed  by  the  Porte. 

The  Ambassadors  urged  with  justice  that  recommendations 
made  by  a  Turkish  Pasha,  the  nominee  of  the  Sultan,  would 
be  much  more  likely  to  be  attended  to  than  any  of  the 
projects  put  forward  by  the  representatives  of  the  Powers. 
Hilmi,  so  far  as  we  foreigners  could  see,  did  very  little,  and  we 
suspected  that  it  was  because  his  recommendations  were  not 
attended  to.  In  a  conversation  with  the  Grand  Vizier,  who 
had  been  his  colleague  for  a  time,  the  latter,  however,  assured 
me  that  Hilmi's  reports  and  recommendations  were  of  the 
most  practical  character,  but  that  Abdul  Hamid  would  have 
none  of  them.  They  were  never  allowed  to  be  published, 
but  my  informant,  who  had  seen  them,  declared  that  they 
were  more  drastic  in  their  thoroughness  than  any  which  the 
Powers  had  proposed. 

With  his  miserable  ideas  of  statesmanship,  Abdul  Hamid 
would  do  nothing  but  play  off  Greeks  against  Bulgars.  He 
probably  considered  it  very  satisfactory  that  they  were 
fighting  and  intriguing  against  each  other,  and  nothing 
would  induce  him  to  remove  the  bone  of  contention.  Every 
year  saw  the  condition  of  Macedonia  becoming  worse,  the 
niunber  of  emigrants  into  Bulgaria  steadily  increasing,  the 
struggles  between  the  Bulgarian  and  Greek  bands  becoming 
fiercer.  As  in  Bulgaria,  twenty-five  years  earlier,  the  Turks 
arrested,  imprisoned,  tortured,  or  hanged  school  teachers 
and  the  leading  members  of  the  community  by  preference. 

The  struggle  was  embittered  by  the  differences  which 
existed  among  the  population  owing  to  their  attachment  to 
the  Patriarch  of  Constantinople  or  to  the  Bulgarian  Exarch, 
Many  of  the  churches  and  schools  in  the  country  had  been 
built  by  the  subscriptions  of  the  inhabitants  before  the 
separation  of  the  Bulgarian  Church  from  the  Patriarchate. 


SIR  NICHOLAS  O'CONOR  197 

To  understand  this,  a  short  explanation  is  necessary.  The 
Orthodox  Church,  represented  by  the  Patriarch  of  Con- 
stantinople, employed  the  Greek  language  as  continuously 
as  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  has  employed  Latin.  All 
Orthodox  Churches  in  the  Balkan  Peninsula  were  at  one 
time  under  his  jurisdiction. 

In  the  terrible  disorder  in  the  Orthodox  Church  conse- 
quent upon  the  capture  of  Constantinople  in  1453,  the 
ancient  ecclesiastical  organisation  largely  broke  down,  and 
all  the  power  which  it  possessed  became  centred  in  the 
Patriarchate  at  Constantinople.  The  appointment  of 
Bishops  and  the  filling  of  other  ecclesiastical  offices  were  in 
its  hands.  The  Patriarchs  themselves  often  had  to  pay 
heavily  in  order  to  obtain  their  offices,  such  payments  being 
made  to  influential  Turkish  Pashas.  In  return  the  Turkish 
Pashas  supported  the  Patriarchate  in  its  claim  to  appoint 
Bishops  throughout  the  Peninsula,  and  these  Bishops  had  to 
pay  for  their  appointments  and  to  contribute  to  the  Patri- 
archate. The  whole  ecclesiastical  system  became  singu- 
larly corrupt,  and  it  is  to  the  infinite  credit  of  the  Orthodox 
Church  that  by  its  own  inherent  vitality  it  has  largely  swept 
away  such  corruption.  The  wishes  of  the  laity  were  entirely 
disregarded  unless  they  were  prepared  to  outbid  the  price 
which  their  proposed  nominee  would  pay.  All  the  Bishops 
in  Bulgaria  and  Macedonia  were  Greeks,  very  often  men  who 
knew  nothing  of  the  language  of  the  people. 

To  such  an  extent  did  this  prevail  that  a  distinguished 
member  of  the  House  of  Lords,  still  happily  amongst  us, 
informed  me  that  when  he  followed  Kinglake  after  the 
Eothen  journey  from  Belgrade  through  Sofia  and  Philip- 
popoUs  to  Constantinople  previous  to  the  Crimean  war,  he 
recognised  from  the  crosses  on  the  churches  that  they  were 
intended  for  Christian  worship,  but  concluded  that  the 
inhabitants,  when  Christian,  were  all  Greeks.  He  heard 
Greek  spoken  at  various  places  where  he  put  up,  probably 
at  Bishops'  houses,  but  heard  nothing  about  Bulgarians. 
Readers  of  Eothen  will  be  surprised  to  see  how  little  is  said  of 
the  Bulgars.    Meantime,  however,  a  great  movement  had 


igS       FORTY  YEARS   IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

spread  in  Bulgaria  as  eariy  as  the  'sixties  of  last  century, 
claiming  that  their  Church  service  should  be  in  the  Slavic 
language. 

The  Bulgarian  people  generally  had  ceased  to  regard  their 
Church  as  a  protector.  Its  liturgy  was  Greek,  its  government 
foreign.  The  progressive  spirits  claimed  not  only  that  the 
language  should  be  Slavic,  but  that  the  Bishops  sent  by  the 
Patriarch  should  speak  Bulgarian.  I  remember  a  story 
told  by  an  old  German  consul  who  had  been  stationed  in 
Bulgaria  in  the  'sixties.  A  heated  quarrel  took  place  in  a 
Bulgarian  Church  meeting  when  one  of  the  speakers  attacked 
the  Bishop  on  this  very  ground.  "  You,"  said  he,  addressing 
the  Bishop,  "  have  been  here  four  years.  You  don't  speak  a 
word  of  our  language.  There  is  a  young  American  who 
has  only  been  in  the  town  five  or  six  months  and  who  is 
already  beginning  to  address  people  in  Bulgarian." 

The  struggle  over  the  language  question  between  the 
Bulgarians,  which  includes  the  people  of  Macedonia  for  this 
purpose,  and  the  Patriarchate  became  fierce,  and  the  Russian 
Church  naturally  sympathised  with  those  who  desired  to 
employ  the  Slavic  liturgy.  But  Russia  refused  to  interfere, 
fearing  to  make  a  division  in  the  Orthodox  Church.  It  was 
only  in  1861,  when  an  important  section  of  the  population 
sent  a  deputation  to  Rome  proposing  that  Rome  should 
recognise  the  Bulgarian  Church  which  would  become  uniate, 
that  the  Russian  Government,  to  prevent  such  a  result, 
interfered.  England  and  France  were  drawn  into  the 
struggle  and  recognised  that  the  only  reasonable  solution  was 
that  the  Bulgarians  should  have  their  own  Church. 

The  Porte,  always  ready  to  act  on  the  principle  of  divide 
et  impera,  granted  a  firman  in  1870  constituting  a  Bulgarian 
Church.  Its  authority  was  to  extend  over  all  Bulgarian- 
speaking  communities  in  the  empire.  Its  head  was  to  be 
called  the  Exarch.  Monsignor  Joseph  was  appointed,  and 
occupied  that  position  until  his  death  in  1915.  I  knew 
him  during  thirty  years  as  one  greatly  respected  by  the 
Bulgarian  people  and  at  every  Embassy  in  Constan- 
tinople.    No  better  selection  could  have  been  made.     Owing 


SIR  NICHOLAS  O'CONOR  199 

to  accidental  circumstances  I  rarely  saw  him  during  the 
last  eight  or  nine  years.  The  last  time  I  did  so  was  when, 
in  company  with  Sir  Nicholas  0' Conor,  who  liked  and  re- 
spected him,  I  paid  him  a  visit  at  Prinkipo. 

The  Orthodox  Church  declared  the  Bulgarians  in  schism 
and  still  so  regards  them.  Once  such  a  decision  was  pro- 
nounced there  immediately  began  a  series  of  quarrels  as  to 
the  possession  of  the  churches  built  in  various  parts  of 
European  Turkey  for  worshippers  belonging  to  the  Orthodox 
Church,  some  ojf  whom  proposed  to  adhere  to  the  Patri- 
archate, while  the  majority  desired  to  have  the  service  in 
the  Slavic  tongue  and  therefore  came  under  the  Bulgarian 
Exarch.  It  was  in  Macedonia  in  particular,  where  the 
population  was  mixed,  that  these  differences  were  most 
acute,  and  the  bands  of  robbers,  Greeks  and  Bulgars,  fought 
for  the  possession  of  the  churches  with  as  much  fierceness 
as  ever  did  Roman  Catholics  and  Protestants  during  the 
Thirty  Years'  War  in  Germany.  When  the  question  was 
taken  before  the  Law  Courts  the  decision  was  usually  in 
favour  of  the  Patriarchate,  that  is  of  the  Greeks,  and  this 
for  the  technical  reason  that  the  title  deeds  or  firmans 
authorising  the  Church  had  been  given  in  the  name  of  the 
Patriarchate  at  Constantinople. 

The  great  difficulty  in  apportioning  the  buildings  arose 
from  the  manner  in  which  Greeks  and  Bulgarians,  especially 
in  Southern  Macedonia,  were  mixed  together.  In  many 
villages  the  two  races,  each  speaking  its  own  language,  lived 
apart,  but  without  much  quarrelling.  In  addition,  and  in 
the  same  neighbourhood,  there  would  be  Greek  and  Bulgarian 
villages  within  a  short  distance  of  each  other,  and  of 
course  when  a  question  of  nationality  arose  each  village 
took  part. 

The  dispersion  and  isolation  of  the  various  races  through- 
out the  Balkan  Peninsula  is  a  puzzUng  factor.  Until 
seventy  years  ago  there  was  a  Slav  village  within  five  miles 
of  Athens.  In  1878,  when  I  visited  General  Skobeleff  in  his 
camp  at  Derwent,  about  twenty  miles  from  Constantinople^ 


200      FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

there  were  two  villages,  almost  adjoining,  the  ruins  of  both  of 
which  I  saw,  one  Bulgarian  and  one  Greek,  In  other  parts 
of  Thrace  there  were  many  Bulgarian  villages.  I  was 
concerned  professionally  in  advising  as  to  the  ownership  of 
land  on  the  actual  shores  of  the  Marmara,  where  many  of 
the  inhabitants  were  Bulgars,  though  the  majority  were 
Greek.  This  dispersed  condition  of  the  population  gave 
point  to  a  grim  joke  of  General  Ignatiev  when  a  line  between 
Turkey  and  the  Greater  Bulgaria  had  to  be  drawn  in  the 
San  Stefano  Treaty.  In  reply  to  the  statement  of  the 
Turkish  Delegates  as  to  where  the  boundary  should  be 
marked,  the  General  said,  "  I  will  take  it  where  you  your- 
selves have  drawn  it."  There  was  a  look  of  astonishment 
and  enquiry.  The  General  pointed  to  the  large  maps  before 
them  and  indicated  Bulgarian  villages  which  had  been  burnt 
quite  near  the  capital.  Clearly  that  line  could  not  be  thus 
drawn. 

The  troubles  in  Macedonia  due  to  the  misgovemment  of 
Turkey  were  rapidly  bringing  it  to  ruin.  As  already 
mentioned,  thousands  had  emigrated  into  Bulgaria,  but  in 
addition  there  was  a  steady  movement  of  emigration  to 
America.  Trustworthy  statistics  do  not  exist,  but  I 
gathered  from  certain  consular  reports  that,  in  1904,  3,000 
men  were  believed  to  have  crossed  the  Atlantic  from 
the  vilayet  of  Monastir  alone ;  that  in  the  following 
year  7,000  had  gone ;  in  the  first  half  of  1906  the 
number  had  increased  to  nearly  15,000.  In  ten  of  the 
villages  around  Fiorina  it  was  reported  that  only  women  and 
children  remained.  I  caUed  the  attention  of  the  British 
public  at  the  time  to  this  emigration.  A  bright  young 
Frenchman,  who  unhappily  died  in  Constantinople  of  fever 
some  two  years  ago,  M,  Gaulis,  took  up  the  matter  very 
bravely  in  his  French  correspondence  and  was  supported 
heartily  by  M.  Victor  Berard,  who  described  Macedonia  as 
"  a  country  of  pillage  and  massacres,  producing  nothing  for 
its  inhabitants,  and  useless  for  the  rest  of  the  world,  unin- 
habitable for  the  natives  and  impenetrable  for  foreigners." 
Even  among  the  Moslems  there  was  widespread  dissatis- 


SIR  NICHOLAS  O'CONOR  201 

faction,  which  even  they  recognised  as  being  due  to  the 
senseless  government  of  Abdul  Hamid. 

At  the  Berlin  Congress  of  1878  Europe  had  recognised 
that  something  ought  to  be  done.  A  mixed  Commission  was 
formed  by  it  to  draw  up  a  scheme  of  reforms  for  European 
Turkey.  The  British  Commissioner  was  Lord  Edmund 
Fitzmaurice.  Its  work  was  done  very  thoroughly,  and  I 
have  reason  to  believe  that  the  thoroughness  was  largely  due 
to  the  British  Conmiissioner.  But  by  the  time  it  was  finished 
the  Sultan  had  come  to  disregard  the  recommendations  of 
Berlin,  and  treated  the  report  as  waste  paper.  The  only 
observation  of  note  which  I  remember  in  connection  with  it 
was  under  the  following  circumstances.  I  had  carefully  read 
the  report,  and  in  conversation  with  Mr.  Goschen,  who  was 
then  Ambassador,  remarked  that  I  thought  it  excellent.  He 
replied  that  it  was,  but  it  was  too  good,  that  Abdul  Hamid 
in  his  then  frame  of  mind  would  not  endeavour  to  carry  out 
any  of  its  recommendations. 

The  physical  situation  of  Macedonia  made  it  impossible 
that  the  people  should  submit  willingly  to  Abdul  Hamid's 
stupid  tyranny.  The  neighbours  of  the  disaffected  districts 
were  Bulgarians,  Serbians,  or  Greeks,  each  of  whom,  with 
the  assistance  of  Russia  and  other  European  Powers,  had 
obtained  their  freedom.  Free  Greece,  free  Bulgaria,  and 
free  Serbia  sympathised  with  their  brethren  who  were  still 
under  the  yoke.  The  small  body  of  intelligent  Turks  who 
had  eyes  to  see  what  was  going  on  were  meantime  on  the 
alert,  and  saw  that  Turkish  rule  would  be  lost  unless  reforms 
were  introduced.  A  committee  had  already  been  formed  of 
disaffected  subjects  of  Turkey,  mostly  Moslems,  but  includ- 
ing also  Armenians  and  other  refugees.  Its  headquarters 
were  in  Paris,  but  there  were  members  of  it  in  Geneva.  They 
were  joined  from  time  to  time  by  intelligent  Turks  in 
Constantinople  who  were  under  suspicion  of  Abdul,  and  who 
loathed  the  system  of  espionage  to  which  they  were  subject. 
Some  of  these  Turks  managed  to  escape  from  Turkey.  I 
use  the  word  escape  because  under  the  system  of  surveillance 
which  Abdul  Hamid  instituted,  not  only  were  Armemans 


202       FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

forbidden  even  to  go  from  one  town  or  village  in  the  empire 
to  another  without  a  local  passport,  but  Turks  were  under  a 
similar  disability,  and  no  one  who  was  suspected  of  disloyalty 
ever  had  the  chance  of  obtaining  a  passport.  I  remember 
that  in  the  early  years  of  the  ambassadorship  of  Sir  N. 
O' Conor,  the  Armenian  Patriarch  was  very  ill  and  was 
advised  to  take  a  course  at  a  German  bath.  The  Sultan 
sent  his  own  doctor  to  him,  professed  warm  friendship,  and 
declared  he  could  not  let  him  go,  but  urged  him  to  make  use 
of  baths  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Constantinople. 

In  spite  of  the  hindrances  placed  in  the  way  of  any  subject 
proposing  to  leave  Turkey,  many  influential  men  got  away. 
Two  instances  occurred  within  my  knowledge.  A  highly- 
placed  Turkish  family  living  on  the  Bosporus  made  arrange- 
ments with  the  agent  of  a  British  steamer  which  contrived 
to  arrive  from  the  Black  Sea  just  before  sunset,  and  received 
permission  to  pass  down  the  Bosporus.  When  about  hailf- 
way  down  a  boat  shot  out  into  the  stream  and  gUded 
alongside.  Its  passengers  climbed  on  board,  it  then  being 
dusk,  and  the  occupants  next  day  were  outside  Turkey  and 
on  their  way  to  France  to  join  the  enemies  of  Abdul  Hamid. 

A  still  more  striking  instance  was  that  of  Mahmud  Damat, 
"  Damat  "  implying  that  the  person  in  question  has  married 
a  member  of  the  imperial  family,  usually,  as  in  the  present 
case,  a  sister  of  the  Sultan.  Mahmud  and  his  two  sons  were 
missed  one  day,  and  it  was  not  discovered  until  many  days 
afterwards  that  they  had  escaped  from  Turkey.  They  had 
taken  refuge  on  board  a  French  steamer  which  was  actually 
moored  alongside  the  Galata  quays,  and  remained  there 
until  a  large  Messagerie  steamer  transhipped  them  and  took 
them  to  Marseilles.  The  incident  created  much  sensation, 
because  it  soon  became  known  that  Mahmud's  wife,  using 
the  liberty  of  speech  always  freely  accorded  to  Turkish 
women,  charged  her  brother  the  Sultan  with  having 
deprived  her  of  her  husband  and  her  sons.  As  a  fact  they 
had  reached  Paris,  and,  without  taking  a  very  active  part  in 
opposition  to  the  Sultan,  let  it  be  seen  by  their  conduct  that 
they  had  no  confidence  in  him.    The  Sultan  sent  his  favourite 


SIR  NICHOLAS  O'CONOR  203 

emissary,  who  was  to  make  many  promises  and  hold  out  all 
sorts  of  inducements  to  them  to  return.    But  all  in  vain. 

Thus  there  was  gradually  growing  up  in  the  country,  side 
by  side  with  a  disaffected  population,  a  real  Turkish  party, 
which  had  arrived  at  the  conclusion  that  nothing  could  be 
done  for  the  country  without  a  radical  change  of  system. 
Such  Turks  saw  the  childishness  of  the  so-called  statesman- 
ship of  Abdul  Hamid  in  playing  off  one  race  against  another, 
and  Abdul  Hamid  failed  to  recognise  the  growing  importance 
of  a  revolutionary  committee  in  Europe.  This  committee 
had  already  begun  the  organisation  of  revolution.  One  of  its 
most  daring  emissaries  was  Dr.  Nazim  Bey.  He  is  still 
living,  and  of  late  years  has  tended  to  shew  rather  the 
illiberal  side  of  his  character,  but  it  is  beyond  doubt  that  he  is 
a  splendid  specimen  of  the  typical  emissary  of  revolution. 
He  is  a  Moslem,  and  had  obtained  a  French  education  as  a 
medical  man,  and  when  he  offered  his  services  to  the  Com- 
mittee in  Paris  they  were  readily  accepted.  If  he  could  be 
induced  to  write  his  life  it  would  be  full  of  wonderful  escapes 
and  of  daring  episodes. 

Disguised  as  a  pedlar  Dr.  Nazim  went  to  Smyrna,  entered 
into  communication  with  officers  in  the  army,  and  fomented 
the  already  existing  dissatisfaction  with  the  Sultan.  He  is 
asserted  at  other  times  to  have  put  on  the  white  turban  of  a 
seracli,  and  to  have  preached  sedition  in  the  mosques. 
Before  any  of  these  episodes  occurred  he  was  already 
proscribed  as  a  dangerous  rebel.  The  disaffected  Turks 
already  mentioned  had  formed  a  committee  in  Salonica, 
and  in  order  to  get  into  communication  with  them  Dr. 
Nazim  disguised  himself  in  the  Greek  brigand's  fustanella, 
joined  a  band,  landed  at  the  Piraeus,  crossed  the  frontier 
into  Turkey  and  descended  into  Salonica,  where  many  men 
had  known  him,  but  where  he  was  rightly  confident  that  the 
Zaptiehs  would  not  attempt  to  penetrate  his  disguise,  but 
would  regard  him  as  friendly  to  Abdul  Hamid's  Govern- 
ment. He  was  welcomed  by  the  Committee,  many  of  whom 
had  become  members  of  an  Italian  lodge  of  freemasonry, 
and  was  once  more  sent  on  a  confidential  mission  into  Asia 


204       FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 
Minor.    This  was  the  commencement  of  the  famous  Com- 
mittee of  Union  and  Progress  which  was  to  revolutionise 
Turkey. 

Let  me  now  leave  the  narration  of  matters  connected 
with  the  historical  development  of  the  country  and  turn  to 
some  personal  incidents  connected  with  this  period. 


CHAPTER  XV 

BARON   MARSCHALL  VON   BIEBERSTEIN 

The  Baron's  Greeting — ^The  Fire-eaters  at  Home — 
Fehim  Effendi's  Escapades — Abdul  Hamid's  Protection 
— ^The  German  Ambassador's  Ultimatum — ^Fehim's 
Banishment  and  Death — Sir  Nicholas  O'Conor's  Thor- 
oughness— Our  Sunday  Excursions — ^A  Turkish  Super- 
stition— Hannibal's  Tomb — ^Egyptian  Affairs — ^Death 
of  Sir  Nicholas  O'Conor — ^The  Kaiser's  Protest — Baron 
Marschall's  Methods — ^A  "  Thorough  "  Man. 

I  RECALL  that  in  about  the  year  1905  or  igo6  I  went 
by  Orient  Express  from  Paris  to  Constantinople. 
At  Munich,  where  we  usually  waited  an  hour,  to  my 
surprise  I  met  Baron  Marschall,  who  had  come  in  from  his 
estate  in  Bavaria  in  order  to  go  by  the  same  train  to  Con- 
stantinople. It  was  at  the  time  when  some  of  the  German 
newspapers  were  attacking  England  furiously,  and  when 
counter  attacks  appeared  in  a  few  English  papers.  When 
the  Baron  saw  me  he  drew  himself  up  to  his  full  height, 
probably  six  feet  three,  put  his  thumbs  in  his  waistcoat  and 
greeted  me  with  the  remark,  "  Dare  we  speak  to  each  other, 
Mr.  Pears  ?  " 

I  replied  that  I  was  not  afraid  if  he  were  not 

"  What  are  we  to  do  with  these  fire-eaters  in  your  country 
and  mine  ?  " 

I  suggested  that  if  he  would  give  me  the  names  of  the  six 
worst  editors  who  were  trying  to  make  mischief  between  the 
two,  I  would  give  him  those  of  the  worst  six  in  London, 
and  we  could  knock  their  heads  together. 

He  remarked  he  would  willingly  join  in  the  knocking. 
He  called  the  waiter  of  the  restaurant  car,  and  told  him 

303 


2o6      FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

to  reserve  a  table  for  two  until  we  got  to  Constantinople. 
We  had  known  each  other  fairly  intimately  before.  I 
certainly  greatly  enjoyed  the  two  days'  journey  with  him. 

Some  months  afterwards  there  came  a  matter  of  business 
in  which  one  of  my  clients  was  interested,  and  in  which  a 
German,  with  whom  I  had  nothing  to  do,  was  also 
interested. 

The  British  and  German  Ambassadors  had  common 
ground  of  action  against  the  same  person.  The  episode  is 
curious  and  worth  telling. 

There  was  a  British  subject  who  some  months  before  had 
had  sUght  business  dealings  with  a  foster-brother  of  the 
Sultan,  named  Fehim  Effendi.  The  most  charitable  ex- 
planation of  Fehim 's  conduct  is  that  he  was  largely  bad  and 
partly  mad.  He  was  a  man  of  violent  temper,  a  heavy 
drinker,  had  the  reputation,  right  or  wrong,  of  having  killed 
two  Armenian  girls  who  would  not  consent  to  his  proposals, 
drove  about  Pera  in  a  specially  gorgeous  carriage,  and  was 
looked  upon  with  dread  by  shopkeepers  and  natives  gener- 
ally. The  Turks  attach  considerable  importance  to  the 
relationship  of  foster-brothers,  and  Fehim  had  always  had 
the  friendship  of  Abdul  Hamid  from  babyhood.  He 
committed  all  sorts  of  irregularities  and  crimes,  took  goods 
without  paying  for  them,  and  had  a  street  coachman  nearly 
whipped  to  death  by  his  servants  because  he  had  asked  for 
payment  of  his  fare.  Indeed,  there  was  hardly  anyone  in 
Constantinople  who  had  not  some  tale  to  tell  against  Fehim, 
but  as  the  protected  of  Abdul  Hamid  they  had  long  since 
disbeUeved  in  the  possibiUty  of  redress  at  his  hands. 

On  a  certain  day  I  received  a  hastily  written  letter  from 
an  English  client  whom  I  knew  slightly,  stating  that  the 
bearer  would  give  me  further  details.  The  information 
was  to  the  effect  that  this  cUent  was  in  the  principal 
hotel  in  the  city  and  dared  not  move  out  because  there  were 
at  least  two  persons  on  watch  outside  the  door,  who,  the 
writer  of  the  letter  beUeved,  were  there  to  assassinate  him. 
The  bearer  then  told  me  that  Fehim  had  written  demanding 
the  loan  of  £400,  and  the  bearer  produced  Fehim's  card 


BARON  MARSCHALL  VON  BIEBERSTEIN    207 

making  such  a  demand.  The  EngHshman  had  repHed  that 
he  was  not  a  banker  and  could  not  and  would  not  let  him 
have  the  money.  Thereupon  Fehim  had  again  written 
stating  that  he  wanted  £700,  and  intimating  that  if  he  refused 
to  furnish  it  that  day  it  was  at  the  peril  of  his  life.  The 
bearer  had  seen  two  persons  whom  he  recognised  as  creatures 
of  Fehim  waiting  outside  the  hotel. 

As  the  matter  appeared  of  importance,  I  at  once  went 
to  see  Sir  Nicholas  O'Conor,  shewing  him  the  card.  Sir 
Nicholas  sent  an  urgent  message  to  the  palace  requesting 
that  orders  should  be  sent  to  Fehim  not  to  misconduct 
himself.  Fehim  heard  of  the  action  of  the  Ambassador, 
and  immediately  sent  another  letter,  which  I  saw,  and  which 
was  spotted  over  with  drops  probably  of  cognac  or  mastic, 
in  which  he  declared  that  he  had  learnt  that  the  Embassy  had 
been  informed  of  his  demand,  and  adding,  "  Now  I'll  make 
an  end  of  you.  I'll  wipe  you  out."  Under  this  threat  my 
client  did  not  dare  to  venture  out,  but  sent  the  letter  on  to 
me.  Sir  Nicholas  at  once  took  the  matter  in  hand  per- 
sonally, demanded  an  audience  of  the  Sultan  and  shewed  him 
the  letter.  Abdul  Hamid  laughed,  and  said  he  recognised 
the  handwriting  and  that  Fehim  was  always  doing  some- 
thing or  other  foolish.     He  promised  redress. 

Contemporaneously  with  these  proceedings,  which  had 
trailed  over  two  or  three  days,  another  incident  occurred. 
Fehim,  for  some  purpose  of  his  own,  wanted  a  cargo  of  wood, 
and  learning  that  a  Turkish  ship  had  arrived  in  the  Bosporus 
from  the  Black  Sea  with  just  about  the  quantity  that  he 
required,  he  sent  his  men  on  board,  who  took  possession  of 
the  ship,  although  the  master  called  attention  to  the  fact 
that  the  cargo  was  consigned  to  a  German  subject.  Fehim 
cared  nothing  about  that.  The  German  Ambassador  sent 
up  a  steam-launch  attached  to  his  Stationnaire,  and  had  the 
ship  brought  down  to  Constantinople  by  its  German  crew. 
When  Fehim  heard  of  this  step  he  sent  men,  who  surprised 
the  small  crew  of  the  saiUng-vessel  and  gave  orders  to  the 
men  whom  he  placed  on  board  to  shoot  anyone  who 
attempted  to  come  on   board.      Meantime  the  German 


2o8       FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

subject  had  wisely  left  the  care  of  his  interests  to  his  Am- 
bassador. 

Baron  Marschall  sent  making  strong  representations  to 
Abdul  Hamid,  who  tried  his  usual  game  of  making  excuses, 
declaring  that  the  matter  must  be  looked  into  and  a  decision 
taken  in  the  law  courts.  Thereupon  Baron  Marschall  did 
the  right  thing.  He  sent  to  the  Sultan  and  demanded 
dther  that  Fehim  should  be  banished  from  Constantinople, 
or  that  he  himself  should  receive  his  passports.  This  was  on 
the  very  day  when  Sir  Nicholas  O' Conor  had  demanded  that 
steps  should  be  taken  to  prevent  Fehim  from  assassinating 
the  EngUshman.  With  two  such  heavy  guns  directed  against 
him  Abdul  Hamid  had  to  yield,  and  Fehim  was  sent  from 
Constantinople  to  Brusa. 

I  may  as  well  finish  with  Fehim,  although  his  fate  does 
not  concern  that  of  either  of  the  Ambassadors.  At  Brusa 
he  at  once  began  plajdng  the  same  wild  game  that  he  had 
played  with  impunity  in  Pera.  No  woman's  honour  and  no 
man's  property  was  safe  from  his  attacks.  He  had  taken  his 
amazingly  showy  carriage  and  made  himself  such  a  general 
nuisance  that  the  Vali  telegraphed  to  the  Grand  Vizier  that 
he  would  not  be  answerable  for  the  peace  of  the  city  unless 
steps  were  taken  against  Fehim.  Thereupon  the  Vali 
received  instructions  to  place  him  under  arrest.  He  was 
forbidden  to  go  outside  the  Umits  of  his  house  and  garden. 
There  he  remained  for  many  months,  until  the  Revolution  of 
1908.  Then  he  claimed  that  as  liberty  was  decreed  to 
everyone,  the  Vali  had  no  right  to  keep  him  longer  in  con- 
finement, and  immediately  commenced  his  old  wild  games. 
At  the  end  of  one  of  these  there  was  a  popular  rising  against 
him.  The  mob  surrounded  his  carriage  and  killed  him, 
hundreds  of  persons  putting  their  knives  into  him  in  token 
that  they  wished  to  share  the  responsibility  of  his  death. 

The  work  that  Sir  Nicholas  O'Conor  did  as  Ambassador 
was  not,  I  believe,  so  highly  estimated  in  England  as  it 
deserved  to  be.  He  was  essentially  an  unobtrusive  but  a 
conscientious  worker,  as  I  had  many  occasions  of  seeing. 


BARON  MARSCHALL  VON  BIEBERSTEIN    209 

On  perhaps  the  first  occasion  on  which  I  went  with  him  for  a 
trip  on  board  the  beautiful  Uttle  Dispatch  boat,  the  Imogen, 
I  had  an  illustration  of  his  thoroughness  in  work.  He  was 
fond  of  coming  down  to  Prinkipo  on  Saturday  night,  some- 
times alone,  at  others  accompanied  by  one  or  more  friends. 
On  many  such  occasions  he  would  call  at  our  house  on  the 
Saturday  evening  and  ask  whether  I  was  free  to  accompany 
him  on  the  Sunday.  If  I  were,  we  would  fix  upon  the  place 
to  be  visited :  he  would  attend  eight  o'clock  mass  at  the 
Roman  Catholic  church  on  the  Sunday  morning,  and  I 
would  go  on  board  the  Imogen  at  nine,  and  we  would  steam 
away,  usually  for  some  interesting  historical  site.  Indeed, 
all  round  the  Marmara  there  hardly  exists  a  site  which  is  not 
full  of  interest. 

I  have  the  pleasantest  recollections  of  several  of  these 
trips.  Mr.  Hasluck  of  the  British  School  of  Archaeology  in 
Athens  had  been  my  guest,  and  had  greatly  interested  me 
with  his  experiences  at  Cyzicus,  and  I  had  suggested  to  Sir 
Nicholas  that  we  should  pay  him  a  visit.  This  we  did,  the 
distance  from  Prinkipo  being,  I  suppose,  about  forty  miles. 
I  need  not  describe  the  antiquities,  though  we  were  both 
greatly  interested  in  them.  But  we  went  to  see  what  had 
been  a  remarkable  artificial  lake  used  in  classic  times  for 
naumachy.  A  mountain  stream  had  been  dammed  so  as 
to  form  a  small  lake,  and  the  sides  of  the  hills  near  had  been 
arranged  so  as  to  form  almost  a  complete  circle  or  theatre 
for  the  spectators.  There  they  could  witness  mimic  fights 
between  the  vessels  on  the  lake  below  them. 

As  we  passed  along  a  small  lane  by  the  side  of  a  marsh, 
we,  that  is.  Sir  Nicholas,  the  captain  of  the  Imogen  and 
myself,  became  aware  of  a  hideous  stench,  and  concluded 
that  near  us  was  the  decaying  body  of  some  animal.  When 
we  passed  beyond  a  hedge  which  separated  us  from  the 
marsh,  we  then  saw  a  sight  which  astonished  us.  There 
were  many  leaves  of  a  large  lily  from  eighteen  inches  to  two 
feet  long  and  a  foot  broad,  and  some  of  them  were  coloured 
with  the  most  brilliant  hues  which  a  painter  could  produce — 
blues,   scarlets,   yellows,   greens,   orange  and  purples,   in 

p 


210       FORTY  YEARS   IN   CONSTANTINOPLE 

astonishing  profusion.  None  of  us  had  ever  seen  the  like. 
We  were  accompanied  by  two  or  three  labouring  men,  and 
Sir  Nicholas  asked  whether  a  root  of  this  gorgeous  plant 
could  be  dug  out  so  that  he  might  take  it  back  to  Therapia 
and  plant  it  in  the  Embassy  garden. 

In  returning  from  the  ancient  ruin  we  found  that  a  man 
had  dug  out  one  of  the  lilies  containing  a  leaf  so  decorated. 
On  our  way  back  to  the  ship  we  again  noticed  the  disgusting 
stench,  and  the  captain,  who  was  a  few  yards  ahead  near  the 
man  who  was  carrying  the  plant,  cried  out,  "  The  stench 
comes  from  this  plant."  This  we  found  to  be  the  case.  As 
we  pulled  from  the  boat  to  the  Imogen,  the  ship's  doctor,  as 
he  saw  the  plant  being  carried  on  board,  at  once  recognised 
it,  and  said  that  it  must  be  put  in  the  farthest  place  away 
from  his  quarters.  It  was  the  lilium  assafaetidum.  He  told 
us  the  story  of  one  that  had  been  taken  home  by  a  brother 
doctor,  had  been  planted  below  a  drawing-room  window,  and 
all  unsuspecting,  the  drawing-room  had  become  so  intolerable 
that  the  floor  was  taken  up  to  see  whether  dead  rats  did  not 
exist.  Finally  the  culprit  was  found  to  be  the  plant ;  it  Wcis 
removed,  and  with  it  the  stench. 

On  another  occasion  I  greatly  wished  to  see  the  ruins 
of  HeracHa  on  the  north  side  of  the  Sea  of  Marmara.  I  had 
written  a  good  deal  about  the  place,  and  realised  that  it  had 
been  an  important  city  with  a  great  theatre  containing 
the  pedestals  of  four  pre-Constantine  Emperors,  that  its 
church,  during  the  Middle  Ages,  was  a  Metropolitan  of  great 
reputation,  and  that  it  had  figured  constantly  in  Byzantine 
history.  The  journey  was  too  long  to  be  accomplished  in 
one  day,  so  it  was  arrsinged  that  we  should  cross  the  Mar- 
mara, examine  the  ruins  of  the  theatre,  of  the  Metropolitan 
church  and  of  the  existing  church,  and  steam  away  to  San 
Stefano  during  the  night.  The  theatre  stood  on  the  sea- 
shore, and  the  thousands  of  spectators  had  before  them 
surely  one  of  the  most  magnificent  panoramas  to  be  found  on 
the  Mediterranean  or  its  neighbourhood.  Beyond  the  stretch 
of  the  Sea  of  Marmara  was  the  island  which  has  given  to 
it  that  name,  and  beyond  that  the  superb  By  thinian  Olympus. 


BARON  MARSCHALL  VON   BIEBERSTEIN    211 

The  theatre  had  been  largely  hollowed  out  of  the  side  of 
the  rock.  Unfortunately,  as  I  indeed  know,  the  marble 
seats  had  been  shipped  off  in  order  to  be  employed  in  the 
construction  of  the  Great  Mosque  of  SuHman  the  Magnifi- 
cent. The  statues  had  of  course  gone,  but  happily  the  Turk 
always  possesses  a  certain  reverence  for  that  which  is 
written,  the  common  explanation  being  that  on  the  in- 
scribed stone  or  paper  the  name  of  God  might  exist,  and  the 
pedestals  which  recounted  the  deeds  of  the  Emperors  whose 
effigies  had  been  placed  upon  them  remained  virtually 
unchanged.  Then  we  crossed  the  hill  and  went  to  a  great 
mass  of  ruined  buildings  which  represented  the  MetropoUtan 
church.  There  still  exists  one  comer  of  it  in  which  service 
is  held  once  a  year,  but  Heraclia,  instead  of  being  a  populous 
town  as  it  once  was,  is  now  a  miserable  village  which  exists 
about  a  mile  from  the  ancient  church  and  theatre.  The 
church  now  used  probably  dates  back  to  the  ninth  or  tenth 
century. 

We  all  looked  into  this  church,  and  the  priest  was 
courteous,  as  I  have  ever  found  Greek  priests  to  be  when 
they  reaUse  that  you  are  interested  in  the  objects  about  their 
churches.  We  found  that  he  had  collected  certain  fragments 
of  sculpture  which  belonged  to  a  good  period.  Personally,  I 
was  not  satisfied  that  he  had  shewn  us  all  the  objects  which 
he  possessed,  and  I  lingered  behind  the  rest  of  the  party  and 
told  him  so.  Whereupon  he  took  me  in  to  a  building  near 
the  church  and  shewed  me  a  number  of  fragments  of  sculp- 
ture which  I  should  dearly  have  Uked  to  buy.  Two  ob- 
stacles prevented  me  from  doing  so ;  first  the  difficulty  of 
getting  them  away,  and  secondly,  the  impossibility  of  making 
an  arrangement  in  reference  to  them  which  would  be 
recognised  as  having  been  made  by  someone  who  had 
accompanied  the  British  Ambassador.  When  some  months 
afterwards  I  found  means  of  getting  a  friend  to  visit  the 
church,  the  fragments  had  all  disappeared. 

I  may  be  allowed  to  mention  one  more  place  which  I 
visited  with  Sir  Nicholas.  On  this  occasion  the  American 
Ambassador  and  his  wife  were  on  board  like  myself  as 


212       FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

guests,  and  another  American  lady,  Mrs.  Norton,  a  woman 
of  great  charm,  enterprise,  and  nobihty  of  character.  Her 
husband,  whom  I  also  have  the  pleasure  of  knowing,  had 
been  American  Consul,  I  think  at  Erzeroum,  during  the 
Armenian  massacres,  and  he  and  she  had  played  a  noble 
part  in  saving  the  lives  of  Armenian  women  and  children, 
most  of  whom  were  connected  with  the  Roman  CathoUc 
mission.  She  herself,  a  good  American  Puritan,  was 
astonished  at  the  recognition  which  the  Catholic  authorities 
shewed  of  what  she  had  done.  My  attention  was  called  to 
her  services  by  seeing  upon  her  drawing-room  table  in 
Smyrna  a  portrait  of  His  Holiness  the  Pope  with  an  in- 
scription stating  that  it  was  presented  to  her  by  him.  Her 
account  of  the  interview  was  one  of  the  brightest  pieces  of 
naivete  and  delightfulness  that  I  have  heard.  She  had  not 
sought  an  audience,  but  had  been  informed  that  if  she  went 
on  a  certain  day,  properly  gloved  and  got  up,  she  would  be 
allowed  to  see  what  she  wanted  to  see  at  the  Vatican.  Thither 
she  went,  and,  as  she  described  it,  almost  before  she 
reahsed  where  she  was  she  found  herself  in  presence  of 
the  Pope.  He  received  her  with  great  kindness  of  manner 
and  expressed  his  thanks  for  the  care  which  she,  a  Presby- 
terian, had  taken  of  a  portion  of  his  flock. 

But  to  return  to  the  visit  with  Sir  Nicholas  on  the  Imogen. 
We  had  arranged  to  go  as  far  as  Ismidt,  but  gathering  clouds 
threatened  heavy  rain,  and  I  suggested  that  we  should  stop 
at  a  well-known  ruin  usually  spoken  of  as  the  Crusaders' 
Castle  and  situated  at  Gibseh.  This  we  did,  and  went  on 
shore.  I  knew  that  my  old  friend  Hamdi  Bey,  the  director 
of  the  museum,  had  built  himself  a  summer  residence  quite 
near  the  castle,  and  that  his  son  Edhem  had  made  a  careful 
study  of  the  building.  Happily  we  found  Hamdi  at  home. 
He  at  once  joined  our  party.  I  will  not  attempt  to  describe 
the  ruins.  As  a  curious  piece  of  incongruity  there  was 
within  the  enclosure  the  tomb  of  a  Turkish  dervish,  hung 
round,  as  so  often  is  the  case,  with  hundreds  of  rags,  and 
this  led  the  conversation  naturally  to  the  widespread  belief 
that  some  benefit  would  accrue  to  hanging  upon  his  tomb 


BARON  MARSCHALL  VON  BIEBERSTEIN    213 

some  portion  of  one's  dress.  The  ladies  seemed  more 
interested  than  we  were,  for  they  hngered  behind.  Some  of 
us,  however,  heard  the  swish  of  some  garment  which  was 
being  torn,  and  when  they  rejoined  us  the  canny  behef  was 
expressed  that  "  no  one  should  ever  lose  a  chance.  There 
might  be  nothing  in  it,  but  again  there  might  be." 

We  had  not  time  to  go  a  distance  of  about  a  mile  and  a 
half  into  the  country  from  the  castle  in  question  to  see 
Hannibal's  tomb.  I,  however,  have  visited  it  on  two 
occasions,  and  see  no  reason  to  deny  that  it  may  have  been 
his  tomb.  The  place  is  now  called  Gibseh,  which  correctly 
enough  represents  the  locality  on  the  Gulf  of  Ismidt  where 
Hannibal  is  reputed  to  have  died.  The  so-called  tomb  is 
marked  by  two  huge  unhewn  stones,  which  have  probably 
been  near  the  centre  of  one  of  the  tumuU  which  exist  in 
considerable  numbers  between  the  Black  Sea  and  the  Gulf 
of  Ismidt,  and  in  still  greater  numbers  in  Thrace  and 
southern  Bulgaria.  In  the  latter  place  I  counted  from  one 
point  upwards  of  one  hundred  such  mounds.  Travellers 
on  the  Orient  Express,  if  it  ever  run  again,  may  readily  count 
nearly  that  number  between  Slivnitza  and  Adrianople. 

Perhaps  the  most  serious  question  with  which  Sir  Nicholas 
O'Conor  had  to  deal  concerned  the  recognition  of  Britain's 
position  in  Egypt  and  the  maintenance  of  the  boundaries  of 
that  country.  Over  the  Tabah  incident  for  three  months 
Sir  Nicholas  was  worried  daily  by  the  Sultan's  creatures  in 
Egypt  and  by  his  Ministers,  who  hoped  to  obtain  some 
concessions  which  would  "  save  the  Sultan's  face."  But  he 
was  inexorable.  Eventually  he  triumphed,  as  for  the 
first  time  England's  right  to  act  for  Egypt  was  officially 
recognised  by  the  Sultan. 

Looking  back  upon  the  events  of  the  last  thirty  years  it  is 
impossible  to  doubt  that  Egypt  was  detached  from  Turkey 
entirely  by  the  want  of  statesmanship  of  Abdul  Hamid.  No 
Englishman  can  doubt  the  sincerity  of  the  great  EngUsh 
statesmen  who  had  to  deal  with  the  Egyptian  question. 
However  much  a  small  section  of  Englishmen  desired  that 


214       FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

Egypt  should  form  part  of  the  British  Empire  or  be  under  its 
control,  the  nation  had  no  such  wish.  When  Ismail  was 
deposed  not  only  were  the  financiers  of  western  Europe, 
and  especially  of  France,  satisfied  ;  not  only  did  the  fellaheen 
of  Egypt  find  their  condition  improved,  but  there  was  a 
general  recognition  that  even  the  fiscal  changes  introduced 
under  British  administration  had  improved  the  financial 
condition  of  the  country  as  well  as  that  of  the  bondholders. 
When  France,  unwisely  from  the  point  of  her  own  interests, 
refused  to  join  us  in  putting  down  the  Arabi  insurrection  and 
afterwards  in  the  occupation  of  the  country,  and  when  in  her 
disappointment  she  used  all  the  influence  she  possessed  at  the 
Porte  to  prevent  Abdul  Hamid  sending  troops  as  Mr.  Glad- 
stone had  invited  him  to  do  to  enter  with  our  own,  we  were  in 
the  full  period  of  pin-pricks  by  France.  Mr.  Gladstone  had 
given  his  word  that  our  occupation  was  only  to  be  temporary. 
Lord  Salisbury,  on  his  accession  to  power,  confirmed  that 
promise,  and  no  Englishman  can  doubt  that  the  promise 
of  either  of  these  men  would  have  been  kept  if  unforeseen 
circumstances  had  not  changed. 

A  witty  Frenchman  publicly  observed  in  France  that  the 
cry  of  that  country  for  the  departure  or  the  expulsion  of 
British  troops  was  hollow,  because  he  observed  that  when- 
ever there  was  an  announcement  that  our  troops  were  about 
to  leave  Egypt,  down  went  the  value  of  all  Egyptian 
securities.  Then  there  came  the  incident  already  described 
of  Sir  Drummond  Wolff's  negotiation  of  a  Treaty,  and  of  the 
bad  faith  and  supreme  folly  of  Abdul  Hamid  in  refusing  to 
abide  by  the  conditions  in  that  document.  During  the 
whole  of  this  period  he  would  never  recognise  the  right  of  the 
British  troops  to  be  in  Egypt,  or  recognise  us  as  being  in 
possession.  It  will  astonish  some  of  my  readers  to  learn 
that  from  the  Turkish  newspapers,  which  were  always 
severely  censored,  no  student  would  learn  that  British  troops 
ever  were  in  Egypt  at  that  time. 

In  the  negotiations  that  took  place  the  fact  had  of  course 
to  be  recognised,  in  order  that  the  stipulations  as  to  their 
quitting  the  country  might  be  set  out,  but  there  was  nothing 


BARON  MARSCHALL  VON  BIEBERSTEIN    215 

even  there  beyond  the  recognition  of  the  fact  that  our  troops 
were  in  Egypt,  for  the  Treaty  was  never  allowed  to  be 
published  in  Turkey.  Then  came  the  Tabah  incident,  which 
was  not  merely  an  attempt  to  take  away  a  portion  of 
Egyptian  territory,  but  one  intended  to  show  that  the  Sultan 
would  not  allow  even  the  boundaries  of  Egypt  to  be  discussed 
by  England,  It  finished  with  a  recognition  that  England 
had  a  right  to  negotiate  on  behalf  of  the  country.  All  Abdul 
Hamid's  machinations  had  failed  up  to  that  point.  He 
continued  until  he  was  deposed  to  intrigue  with  the  Khedive 
and  Ghazi  Muktar,  a  General  who  had  been  largely  successful 
in  defeating  the  Russian  army  in  Asia  Minor  in  the  war  of 
1877-78,  and  who  appears  to  have  entered  sincerely  into 
Abdul  Hamid's  desire  to  get  the  English  out  of  Egypt.  The 
Khedive  usually  spent  a  portion  of  each  summer  in  Con- 
stantinople, and  it  is  no  secret  that  on  more  than  one 
occasion  he  had  to  be  told  quite  plainly  that  if  he  continued 
his  intrigues  he  might  have  to  follow  Ismail  into  exile. 

I  judge  that  Sir  Nicholas  O'Conor  was  never  physically 
strong.  He  did  not  spare  himself  when  he  had  a  duty  to 
perform,  and  during  the  last  year  of  his  life  his  work  was 
heavy.  He  died  on  April  i,  1908,  at  the  Embassy  in  Con- 
stantinople. I  well  remember  the  occasion  of  his  death. 
He  had  been  ailing  for  several  days,  and  I  had  gone  on  board 
a  large  excursion  steamer  to  meet  and  have  tea  with  a 
passenger.  The  captain  informed  us  while  we  were  at  tea 
that  the  flag  of  the  StaUonnaire  had  been  placed  at  half- 
mast,  and  we  suspected  that  the  worst  had  happened.  Ten 
minutes  afterwards  a  messenger  arrived  on  board  from  Mr. 
Hope,  M.P.,  the  brother  of  Lady  O'Conor,  requesting  me  to 
go  at  once  to  the  Embassy.  I  lost  no  time  in  doing  so,  and 
Lady  O'Conor,  hearing  by  accident  of  my  arrival,  sent  down 
to  her  brother  requesting  that  I  would  not  leave  until  I  had 
gone  upstairs  to  see  her. 

It  would  be  impertinent  that  I  should  give  any  particulars 
of  the  conversation  which  I  had  with  her.  She  knew,  she 
said,  that  he  looked  upon  me  as  a  sincere  and  trusted  friend. 
We  all  sympathised  with  her  in  her  overwhelming  grief,  for 


2i6      FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

she  as  well  as  her  husband  had  the  respect  of  all  classes 
of  the  community.  Sir  Nicholas  was  given  what  may  be 
described  as  a  public  funeral.  Every  Ambassador  and  the 
staff  of  each  Embassy  took  part  in  it.  The  leading  members 
of  the  British  and  other  colonies  followed,  and  he  was  laid 
to  rest  at  his  own  request  in  that  portion  of  the  British 
cemetery  at  Scutari  where  hundreds  of  his  fellow-countrymen 
who  perished  in  the  Crimean  war  he  buried.  Lady  O'Conor 
placed  over  his  grave  a  small  mausoleimi. 

In  connection  with  this  cemetery  an  incident  occurred 
which  is  not  without  interest.  Sir  Nicholas  one  Sunday 
morning  wrote  and  asked  me  if  not  engaged  to  go  with 
him  to  the  cemetery  in  question.  Unfortunately,  I  had 
arranged  to  accompany  an  archaeologist  friend,  who  was 
leaving  next  day,  round  the  Walls.  When  two  or  three  days 
afterwards  I  saw  Sir  Nicholas,  he  told  me  the  following  story. 
In  front  of  a  part  of  the  cemetery  the  Anatolian  Railway 
Company  has  constructed  a  wharf  and  quays.  These  have 
undoubtedly  taken  away  from  the  view  in  our  cemetery. 
Many  members  of  the  British  colony  who  lived  near  had 
called  the  attention  of  Sir  Nicholas  to  the  disfigiu-ement 
produced  by  these  constructions.  He  proposed  at  least  that 
the  railway  people  should  leave  a  space  in  front  of  it  where  a 
landing  could  be  put,  so  as  to  save  a  long  and  weary  walk 
along  the  whole  length  of  the  quay  to  the  cemetery.  The 
company  apparently  took  no  direct  notice  of  his  remon- 
strances, but  they  made  representations  to  Berlin,  and  the 
belief  of  Sir  Nicholas  was  that  the  Kaiser  had  written  to 
Queen  Victoria  complaining  that  he.  Sir  Nicholas,  was 
objecting  to  the  railway  company  exercising  its  rights  in 
regard  to  the  foreshore  of  the  cemetery.  The  Foreign 
Office  had  communicated  with  Sir  Nicholas,  and  hence  his 
desire  before  replying  to  see  once  more  what  was  the  position 
of  the  obstructing  buildings.  The  landing  has  not  yet  been 
made. 

If  I  were  to  say  that  there  was  considerable  resemblance  in 
character  between  the  German  Ambassador  and  Sir  Nicholas 
O'Conor,  some  of  my  friends  who  knew  both  would  be 


BARON  MARSCHALL  VON  BIEBERSTEIN    217 

disposed  to  object,  but  I  maintain  my  proposition.  Both 
were  painstaking  men.  In  any  matter  which  either  of  them 
took  up  each  was  determined  to  make  himself  fully  master  of 
the  facts,  and  once  he  had  arrived  at  a  decision  would  worry 
the  matter  through  to  a  solution.  Each  was  a  genial  man, 
and  each  was  desirous  of  obtaining  all  the  information  he 
could  about  political  matters  in  Constantinople,  and  of 
hearing  the  opinion  of  all,  whether  officials  or  civilians, 
public  servants  or  ordinary  citizens. 

I  had  myself  received  a  useful  lesson  on  the  importance  of 
learning  the  opinion  of  the  man  in  the  street  from  Mr.  W.  E. 
Forster,  of  whom  I  saw  a  good  deal  in  the  late  autumn  of 
1876.  He  told  me  that  he  wished  to  consult  a  foreigner  in 
Constantinople  whom  I  knew  well,  a  quiet,  good-natured, 
rather  stupid  man.  I  suggested  that  he  would  not  get 
much  out  of  him.  He  agreed,  but  remarked  that  it  was 
always  valuable  to  know  the  opinion  of  men  of  average 
intelligence  who,  though  they  did  not  take  much  interest  in 
politics,  reflected  general  opinion.  In  the  same  way  both 
Sir  Nicholas  O'Conor  and  Baron  Marschall  were  always 
on  the  alert  for  information  from  anyone,  and  anxious  to 
hear  every  opinion. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

THE  REVOLUTION  OF  I908 

Secret  Committees — Sir  Philip  Currie's  Anger — ^Turkish 
Procrastination — ^The  Sick  Man  of  Europe — Abdul 
Hamid  a  Bar  to  Telephones — Condition  of  Army  and 
Navy — Ignorant  Ofl&cers — ^Disaffection  General — The 
Salonica  Committee — Methods  of  Secrecy — ^The  Third 
Army  Corps — ^Enver  and  Niazi  in  Revolt — ^The  End 
Approaching — Corruption  and  Tyranny — ^Espionage 
Ever5rwhere — ^Turkish  Women  Involved — ^The  First 
Shot — ^The  Decision  of  the  Fetva  Emin6 — ^The  Troops 
Refuse  to  Fight — ^Wholesale  Promotions — ^Afraid  to 
Tell  Abdul — ^The  Court  Astrologer  Requisitioned — The 
Sultan  Bows  to  the  Storm — ^A  Wave  of  Popularity — 
Spies  AboUshed  and  Liberty  Proclaimed — General 
Rejoicing. 

I  HAVE  already  mentioned  that  the  misgovemment  in 
Turkey  had  led  to  the  formation  of  committees,  both 
in  and  out  of  Turkey,  with  the  object  of  bringing  about 
a  change  of  government.  Every  foreign  power  interested  in 
the  good  government  of  Turkey,  but  especially  England, 
France,  and  Italy,  was  anxious  in  its  own  interest  to  effect 
reforms  throughout  the  empire  generally.  The  massacres  in 
Armenia  had  disgusted  not  merely  the  whole  of  the  Christian 
population  of  the  empire,  but  thoughtful  men  amongst  the 
Turks.  In  the  Public  Works  Department  nothing  could  be 
done  vdthout  bakshish.  The  Minister  was  a  creature  of  the 
Sultan's,  whose  history  was  typical.  He  was  one  of  two 
brothers,  both  of  whom  professed  Christianity,  and,  as  not 
infrequently  happened,  when  they  got  into  office  became 
more  subservient  than  the  Turks.  They  had  the  reputa- 
tion, rightly  or  wrongly,  of  being  always  open  to  bribes. 

218 


THE  REVOLUTION  OF  1908  219 

One  of  the  brothers  had  been  the  editor  of  a  newspaper  in 
one  of  the  states  of  North  Africa.  While  there  he  had 
distinguished  himself  by  the  bitterness  of  his  enmity  towards 
Great  Britain,  and  had  gone  out  of  his  way  to  make  personal 
attacks  upon  Queen  Victoria.  When  he  came  to  Con- 
stantinople, his  brother  already  being  in  power,  he  paid  a 
visit  to  Sir  Philip  Currie,  who  described  the  interview  to  me 
on  the  following  day.  A  card  was  brought  in  bearing  a  not 
unusual  Turkish  name,  for  in  the  part  of  the  country  from 
whence  he  came  many  names  are  employed  equally  by 
Moslems  and  Christians.  Sir  Philip  glanced  at  the  card, 
saw  that  the  name  was,  as  he  thought,  that  of  a  Turk,  and 
gave  instructions  that  he  should  be  admitted.  He  was  first 
struck  in  conversation  by  the  volubility  and  the  correctness 
of  his  visitor's  French. 

The  man  began  by  sajdng  that  no  doubt  His  Excellency 
knew  that  he  had  attacked  England,  but  explained  that  that 
was  all  in  the  way  of  business,  and  now  that  he  had  come  to 
Constantinople  he  was  quite  prepared  to  take  up  a  different 
line.  "  Who  on  earth  can  the  man  be  ?  "  was  the  thought  of 
Sir  Philip,  and  in  order  to  obtain  the  information  he  made  an 
excuse  to  get  back  to  the  table,  to  take  up  the  man's  card, 

and  then  found  that  it  had  upon  it,  "  Editor  of  the ." 

Thereupon  Sir  Philip  recognised  that  he  was  the  responsible 
editor  who  had  been  attacking  the  Queen,  and  at  once 
addressed  him  in  something  Uke  the  following  language : 
"  You  are  the  scoundrel  who  dared  to  attack  Queen  Vic- 
toria. How  dare  you  put  your  foot  inside  this  Embassy  } 
There  is  the  door.    Go  !  Get  out !  " 

The  other  brother  was  much  more  wily,  and  had  a  French 
wife  who  was  greatly  respected  and  against  whom  no  one  had 
a  word  to  say.  He  rose  to  be  Minister  of  Public  Works.  I 
was  engaged  professionally  in  obtaining  from  the  Govern- 
ment for  clients  an  agreement,  the  terms  of  which  had  been 
settled  by  both  parties,  and  only  required  the  signature  of 
the  Minister.  I  attended  several  weeks  in  succession,  and 
was  put  off  with  excuses.  The  matter  required  further 
looking  into.    "  Come  again  next  week,"  was  the  invariable 


220  FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 
answer.  This  game  went  on  for  nearly  three  months.  The 
honest  members  of  his  Council,  and  I  beUeve  in  fact  all  of 
them  except  the  president,  recognising  that  the  project 
would  be  for  the  advantage  of  the  country,  saw  that  the 
Minister  was  intentionally  delaying  the  matter.  He  had  told 
me  that  there  were  points  in  the  agreement  which  members 
of  the  Council  wished  to  examine  again. 

I  did  not  believe  him,  and  went  boldly  to  the  Council — to 
most  of  the  members  I  was  fairly  well  known — and  asked 
what  were  the  points  as  to  which  further  consideration  was 
necessary.  One  of  the  most  prominent  members  replied 
there  were  none.  Every  member  had  approved  of  it,  and 
all  that  was  necessary  was  to  obtain  the  Minister's  signa- 
ture. "He  is  here  now,"  said  one  of  them.  "  Then," 
said  I,  "  I  am  going  to  see  him,  and  shall  tell  him  that  I  have 
your  assurance  that  nothing  is  wanting  but  his  signature." 
I  went  into  his  room  and  he  began,  in  the  most  plausible  way, 
telling  me  that  he  was  doing  his  best,  but  that  his  Council 
considered  the  matter  required  further  consideration.  Then 
I  opened  out  upon  him.  I  told  him  that  I  had  just  seen  the 
Council  and  that  they  had  assured  me  as  one  man  that  there 
was  no  point  which  required  further  consideration,  and  I 
added,  "  You  have  told  Sir  Nicholas  O' Conor  that  you  are 
doing  all  that  you  possibly  can  to  further  this  and  all  English 
business,  and  it  is  you,  and  you  alone,  that  are  stopping  this 
business."  He  assured  me  that  I  was  mistaken,  and  that  I 
had  no  right  to  make  any  such  statement. 

A  second  person  was  in  the  room  who,  I  think,  was  his 
secretary,  and  he  appealed  to  him  for  confirmation  of  the 
statement  that  the  Council  wanted  to  give  the  matter  further 
consideration.  I  said  at  once  that  I  did  not  beUeve  it, 
because  I  had  just  left  the  Council.  The  person  in  question 
was  immediately  sent  to  the  Council  Chamber  to  enquire,  and 
came  back  after  two  or  three  minutes  with  the  statement 
that  I  was  quite  right.  Thereupon  the  Minister  begged  my 
pardon,  sent  for  the  document,  signed  it,  and  I  took  it  away 
with  me.  As  in  the  department  of  PubUc  Works,  so  in  every 
other  matter.    The  creatures  whom  the  Sultan  had  placed 


THE  REVOLUTION  OF  1908  221 

in  power  needed  only  one  qualification,  unswerving  loyalty, 
per  fas  et  nefas,  to  his  interests. 

I  remember  at  the  time  having  a  long  consultation  on  legal 
matters  with  eight  or  ten  of  the  leading  advocates  in  Con- 
stantinople. One  of  the  oldest  and  ablest  members  present 
declared  that  the  Courts  of  Law  were  never  so  rotten  as  at 
that  time,  that  the  administration  of  justice  was  worse  than 
it  had  been  twenty  years  earlier.  "  I  quite  agree  with  you," 
said  another  old  lawyer ;  "  at  that  time  if  you  wanted  to  get 
hold  of  a  judge  you  found  his  man  and  made  your  bargain 
with  him.  Nowadays  the  judges  will  come  round  them- 
selves." All  agreed  that  in  cases  where  the  rights  were  in 
the  slightest  degree  doubtful  a  decision  had  to  be  paid  for. 
If  the  man  had  influence  a  judgment  might  be  obtained 
without  bribery,  but  ordinarily  not  otherwise.  The  whole 
administration  of  the  country  was  rotten  through  and 
through. 

There  were  two  grievances  in  particular  that  made  the 
Moslems,  as  distinct  from  the  Christians,  opposed  to  the 
Government.  The  first  was  palace  espionage,  the  second 
the  terrible  restriction  of  travel  applied  both  to  Moslems 
and  Christians.  The  average  Moslem  has  the  virtues  of  a 
dominant  race.  He  is  usually  one  who  tells  the  truth  and 
has  the  courage  of  his  opinions.  But  it  was  commonly  said 
that  neither  in  the  streets  nor  in  their  private  houses  were 
they  free  from  the  espionage  of  the  Sultan's  agents.  Bul- 
garia and  other  Balkan  States,  even  a  quarter  of  a  century 
ago,  employed  the  telephone  as  commonly  as  it  is  em- 
ployed in  western  countries.  Neither  the  Sultan  nor  his 
Ministers  would  permit  it  to  be  employed.  Probably  every 
Minister  to  whom  projects  for  the  establishment  of  telephones 
was  submitted  was  opposed  to  it.  It  is  within  my  knowledge 
that  very  large  sums  were  offered  to  the  Government,  which 
was  always  in  want  of  money,  and  to  Ministers  privately,  for  a 
concession  to  establish  telephones.  But  applications  were 
met  with  constant  refusal.  The  explanation  was  that  given 
to  me  by  one  of  the  ablest  of  the  Ministers.  "  Abdul  Hamid 
sends  to  us  at  all  times,  night  and  day.    If  we  had  telephones 


222       FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

in  our  houses  we  should  be  rung  up  every  hour  of  the 
night." 

In  the  country  districts  the  misgovernment  was  most 
markedly  seen  in  the  want  of  protection  to  life  and  property. 
A  mine-owner  would  not  venture  to  work  the  mine  without 
taking  the  zapiiehs,  or  police,  of  the  neighbourhood  into  his 
pay.  Many  mines  were  in  consequence  shut  down.  Natives 
and  foreigners  alike  who  had  acquired  tracts  of  land  let  them 
go  to  rack  and  ruin  rather  than  pay  the  sums  which  the  police 
and  local  government  tried  to  exact  from  them. 

The  condition  of  the  army  and  navy  aroused  the  indig- 
nation of  the  best  men  among  the  Moslems.  Young  officers 
who  had  passed  through  the  military  schools  were  sent  off  to 
regiments  in  the  provinces  and  not  allowed  to  return  to  the 
Bosporus.  I  remember  a  conversation  with  a  captain 
amongst  them  whom  I  knew  well.  He  declared  that  there 
was  no  camaraderie  in  the  army,  and  that  he  himself  did  not 
know  who  were  the  other  officers  in  his  regiment.  The  navy, 
as  I  have  already  mentioned,  had  been  allowed  to  become 
nearly  worthless.  Promotion  in  it  was  due  to  palace 
favouritism.  An  efficient  Turkish  officer  and  gentleman, 
who  had  been  for  a  time  in  the  British  Navy,  told  me  that 
his  one  chance  of  promotion  was  through  the  connection  of 
his  wife  with  one  of  the  palace  ladies.  There  was  no 
question  or  pretence  of  merit  or  of  abiUty,  but  simply  of 
favouritism. 

The  Sultan's  palace  at  Yildiz  was  surrounded  by  troops 
commanded  by  ignorant  officers.  Amongst  these  troops  in 
the  later  years  of  Abdul's  reign  the  Albanians  held  so 
favoured  a  position  as  to  render  plausible  the  statement 
made  to  me  by  an  officer  of  the  Genie,  a  corps  corresponding 
to  our  Royal  Engineers,  that  the  army  would  like  the  chance 
of  attacking  the  regiments  around  Yildiz  and  of  killing  every 
man  in  them.  What  Abdul  Hamid  apparently  dreaded  both 
in  the  army  and  navy  was  a  tendency  towards  improvement 
of  any  kind.  In  1908  it  was  commonly  believed  that  at 
least  20,000  of  the  most  inteUigent  officers  in  the  two  services 
had  been  banished  to  remote  provinces.    The  story  was 


THE  REVOLUTION  OF  1908  223 

common  that  others  had  entered  the  palace,  but  had  never 
been  seen  ahve  again. 

It  was  from  such  causes  that  when  we  reached  the  year 
1908  the  disaffection  towards  the  Sultan  had  become 
general.  The  chief  committees  in  Paris  and  Salonica,  after 
a  long  search  for  reforms,  had  arrived  at  the  conclusion  that 
the  most  practical  remedy  was  the  establishment  of  constitu- 
tional government.  A  fairly  well-drawn  Constitution,  drafted 
by  Midhat  Pasha,  had  been  accepted  by  Abdul  Hamid  in 
December,  1876,  and  promulgated,  as  already  stated,  as  a 
counterstroke  to  the  proposals  of  reforms  made  by  Lord 
Salisbury,  General  Ignatiev,  and  the  other  members  of  the 
European  Conference.  A  Turkish  parliament  had  actually 
met,  but  Abdul  Hamid,  finding  that  it  could  not  be  dictated 
to,  had  solved  the  difficulty  to  his  own  satisfaction  by  bund- 
ling off  the  whole  of  the  members  in  the  course  of  a  single 
night  from  Constantinople  (July,  1877)  and  decreeing  that  the 
portion  of  the  Constitution  which  related  to  representative 
government  should  remain  in  abeyance.  During  these  long 
years  of  misgovernment  the  really  workable  instrument  of 
Midhat  had  never  been  forgotten.  To  have  openly  advo- 
cated its  re-estabUshment  would,  however,  have  meant  the 
suppression  of  any  newspaper  in  the  Empire. 

When  the  Committees  at  Salonica  and  at  Paris  had  seen 
the  failure  of  the  Powers  to  carry  out  the  Miirsteg  Pro- 
gramme, their  determination  to  obtain  the  Constitution  was 
increased,  because  it  was  in  Macedonia  more  than  in  any 
other  part  of  the  Empire  that  the  effects  of  misgovernment 
were  visible.  They  had  seen  gendarmerie  established  in 
Macedonia  and  had  observed  its  beneficial  effects  in  the 
section  of  country  assigned  to  British  and  French  officers. 
They  noticed,  however,  that  Austrian  and  German  officers 
had  either  taken  no  part,  or  were  strangely  lukewarm  in 
their  exertions,  so  that  the  beneficial  effect  was  not  general. 

The  Salonica  Committee,  as  nearly  as  I  can  fix  the  date, 
was  established  in  the  autumn  of  1905.  Of  course  anyone 
known  to  be  connected  with  a  revolutionary  Committee 
would  have  been  at  once  seized,  and  therefore  it  had  to  have 


224       FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

recourse  to  secret  methods ;  and  an  organisation  said  to  be 
founded  on  the  lines  of  freemasonry  was  estabhshed  and 
soon  had  branches  throughout  the  Empire.  There  was 
always  some  display  of  secrecy  in  the  election  of  its  members 
and  the  promulgation  of  its  orders.  One  of  these  members, 
who  is  since  dead  and  who  was  a  trustworthy  man,  told  me 
of  his  own  experiences.  He  was  simimoned  by  a  secret 
Committee  whose  notices  I  have  often  seen — sealed,  but 
never  signed — to  attend  at  a  certain  house.  He  obeyed  the 
summons.  After  certain  formalities  he  was  shewn  into  a 
room  where  in  front  of  him  were  three  masked  men,  seated 
at  a  table.  The  centre  of  them  addressed  him  by  name  and 
said  they  knew  that  he  had  borne  a  good  character,  but  they 
wished  him  to  become  one  of  their  members.  They  ex- 
plained generally  their  objects,  with  which  he  declared  himself 
in  sympathy.  He  was  then  asked,  and  consented,  to  swear 
an  oath  of  fidelity  to  the  Central  Committee,  and  was 
informed  that  if  any  orders  were  given  respecting  him  they 
would  always  be  confirmed  through  a  person  who  was 
named. 

The  Paris  Committee  had  at  its  head  Ahmed  Riza  Bey, 
who  must  have  become  known  to  many  hundreds  of  English- 
men, though  I  am  not  aware  that  he  speaks  English.  He  was, 
and  is,  a  man  of  essentially  conservative  tendencies,  and  an 
opponent  of  violence.  In  Paris  the  Young  Turks  had 
already  taken  the  title  of  the  Committee  of  Union  and 
Progress,  often  indicated  in  later  times  by  its  initials  as  the 
C.U.P.  It  is  xmdoubted  that  during  the  two  or  three  years 
preceding  1908  the  movement  spread  throughout  the 
empire  with  great  rapidity.  In  presence  of  the  great  army 
of  spies  people  had  become  desperate,  and  the  old  question 
was  constantly  asked  amongst  Europeans,  "  Were  the  spies 
themselves  loyal  to  Abdul  Hamid  ?  "  Quis  custodiet  custodes 
ipsos  ?  The  answer  is  that  as  the  movement  increased  there 
is  good  reason  to  believe  that  some  of  the  spies  themselves 
played  a  double  game.  But  the  Committee  probably  got 
more  information  about  the  doings  at  Yildiz  than  did 
Yildiz  about  the  doings  of  the  Committee. 


THE  REVOLUTION  OF  1908  225 

The  great  feature  about  the  organisation  of  the  Com- 
mittee was,  in  my  opinion,  its  secrecy.  No  ordinary  member 
knew  more  than  two  or  three  persons  who  were  associated 
with  him.  He  did  not  know  who  were  the  leaders,  and 
influential  men  amongst  them  told  me  that  it  was  very  rare 
that  the  chairman  at  one  meeting  appeared  more  than  once. 
The  Committee  was  a  great  power  without  visible  organisa- 
tion, but  which  soon  made  its  influence  felt  throughout  the 
empire.  One  of  the  first  objects  of  the  Salonica  Committee, 
which  soon  became  much  more  powerful  than  that  in  Paris, 
was  to  obtain  influence  in  the  Third  Army  Corps,  which 
was  stationed  in  Macedonia.  It  was  to  this  province  that 
the  undue  proportion  of  young  military  officers  trained  in 
the  military  schools  of  the  Harbia  in  Constantinople  had 
been  sent  by  Abdul  Hamid.  Thus  the  ground  was  well 
prepared  for  sowing  disaffection.  It  is  said  that  by  the  end 
of  1907  practically  the  whole  of  the  Third  Army  Corps  had 
sworn  fidelity  to  the  Constitution.  But  other  portions  of 
the  army,  and  especially  in  Asia  Minor  and  Adrianople,  had 
come  under  the  influence  of  the  Committee. 

We  Europeans  in  Constantinople  knew  of  the  existence  of 
the  Committee,  but  we  knew  little  of  its  ramifications,  and  I 
myself  asserted  in  the  British  Press  at  the  time,  that  though 
disaffection  was  general,  there  was  apparently  no  organ- 
isation amongst  the  disaffected  that  gave  any  prospect  of 
success.  The  writer  of  an  able  paper  in  Blackwood's  Maga- 
zine of  January,  1909,  as  an  illustration  of  the  way  in  which 
the  Committee  kept  its  secret,  states  that  a  British  officer 
of  the  gendarmerie  who  was  immensely  popular  with  the 
Turks  told  the  writer  that  until  two  months  before  the 
Revolution  he  knew  nothing  of  the  adherence  of  the  army 
to  the  movement. 

In  truth  the  regime  of  misrule  under  Abdul  Hamid  was 
rapidly  drawing  to  an  end.  He  had  begun  the  system  of 
arbitrary  rule  by  appointing  Ministers  who,  so  far  as  he 
could  accomplish  it,  were  deprived  of  power.  After  a  while, 
and  sometimes  ostentatiously,  he  named  sub-ministers  who 
were  chosen  for  their  known  hostility  to  their  chiefs.    The 

Q 


226      FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

Ministers  often  became  mere  clerks.  In  a  conversation  with 
one  of  them  some  years  ago,  after  dweUing  upon  the  universal 
corruption  that  prevailed  in  every  department,  he  remarked 
that  we  should  never  get  rid  of  it  until  the  Sultan  was 
changed.  To  my  reply  that  the  mere  change  of  sovereign 
would  probably  not  be  a  remedy,  he  answered,  "  We  shall 
at  least  get  back  government  by  Ministers  instead  of  by  the 
palace  clique."  The  Minister  was  right  in  the  position  he 
took  up,  because  amongst  the  evils  of  Abdul's  rule  was  the 
tacit  permission  given  them  to  fill  their  pockets  at  the 
expense  of  the  State  so  long  as  they  were  subservient  to  his 
wishes. 

The  results  of  corruption  had  steadily  increased.  Custom- 
house duties  were  divided  between  the  Exchequer  and  the 
officials.  The  Vahs,  or  Governors,  paid  for  their  appoint- 
ments and  often  contributed  a  portion  of  their  salaries  to 
the  palace  gang  which  kept  them  in  place.  In  return,  no 
inconvenient  questions  were  asked  of  their  extortions  in  the 
provinces.  Public  meetings  were  ever5rwhere  forbidden, 
and  during  the  last  four  or  five  years  of  Abdul  Hamid's  reign 
no  wedding  festivity  or  dinner-party  could  take  place 
among  Turkish  subjects  without  the  permission  of  the 
authorities  and  a  scrutiny  of  the  Ust  of  invited  guests.  An 
attempt  was  even  made  to  prevent  evening  parties  and  balls 
at  wealthy  European  houses,  and  when,  with  the  aid  of  the 
Embassies,  this  demand  was  resisted,  spies  were  stationed 
round  the  houses  to  forbid  the  entrance  of  Turkish  subjects. 

Not  a  line  was  permitted  to  be  printed  in  any  newspaper 
office  until  it  had  passed  the  censor.  If  a  historian  had  to 
depend  for  his  information  upon  files  of  Turkish  newspapers, 
Egypt  during  these  years  would  be  considered  to  be  still 
under  the  direct  rule  of  the  Sultan  as  it  was  before  1879. 
The  word  Armenia  was  not  permitted  to  be  printed.  "  There 
is  no  such  place,"  said  the  chief  censor.  Macedonia  was 
tabooed  also,  and  this  to  such  an  extent  that  it  was  difficult 
for  the  Bible  Society  to  obtain  permission  to  print  a  trans- 
lation of  the  text  of  St.  Paul's  message,  "  Come  over  into 
Macedonia  and  help  us."    The  censor  claimed  that  the 


THE  REVOLUTION  OF   1908  227 

sections  of  the  three  provinces  into  which  Macedonia  had 
been  divided  should  be  substituted.  Theatrical  perform- 
ances were  censored  with  equal  severity.  "  Hamlet  "  and 
"  Julius  Caesar  "  and  a  host  of  French  historical  plays  were 
forbidden  because  they  spoke  of  killing  a  king. 

After  the  massacres  in  1895-97  nearly  all  the  Armenians 
had  been  expelled  from  Constantinople,  and  the  result  was 
that  the  industrious  mass  of  guardians  and  workmen,  who 
had  been  in  the  habit  of  sending  the  largest  portion  of  their 
income  to  their  villages  in  Armenia,  were  thrown  out  of  work 
and  their  families  reduced  to  starvation.  The  army  of  spies 
was  constantly  increased.  Some  of  the  smaller  fry  only 
received  a  salary  of  £2  to  £3  a  month.  One  man,  a  foreigner, 
is  known  to  have  obtained  £90  a  month.  One  year's  Budget 
of  Turkey  set  the  sum  of  £1,200,000  aside  for  spies. 

Thousands  of  men  belonging  to  every  class  of  the  com- 
munity, Mahometans  as  well  as  Christians,  were  denounced 
and  taken  for  secret  examination  to  the  palace  or  other 
police  authorities.  Very  few  were  ever  sent  for  trial,  but 
were  dealt  with  arbitrarily.  Abdul  Hamid  made  a  serious 
mistake  in  dealing  with  suspected  Mahometans.  They  were 
usually  banished  from  the  capital  and  sent  into  remote 
provinces.  There  they  became  the  centres  of  revolution. 
The  whole  empire  was  thus  prepared  for  revolution  when  an 
organisation  should  declare  for  it.  Everywhere  there  were 
exiles  of  ability  and  energy  above  the  average,  and  full  of  a 
sentiment  of  hostility  towards  the  Sultan.  In  some  of  the 
provinces,  as  for  example  in  Erzeroum,  the  exiles  were  so 
numerous  and  so  superior  in  reputation  and  abiUty  to  the 
Governor  and  officials,  that  they  practically  became  the 
rulers  of  the  provinces,  and  in  one  case  which  I  reported  in 
the  year  1906,  the  population,  led  by  the  exiles,  dictated  to 
and  obtained  from  the  Sultan  a  change  of  governor. 

In  the  army  the  system  of  espionage  destroyed  its  esprii 
de  corps  and  created  a  strong  current  of  dissatisfaction  among 
the  officers,  who  were  thus  prepared  during  the  two  or  three 
years  preceding  1908  to  welcome  the  emissaries  of  revolution. 
As  the  months  passed  on  and  the  system  of  espionage  failed. 


228       FORTY  YEARS   IN   CONSTANTINOPLE 

Abdul  Hamid's  only  remedy  was  to  make  it  the  stricter. 
The  local  post  was  abolished  because  it  faciUtated  con- 
spiracy. Letters  to  and  from  the  provinces  in  the  Turkish 
post  were  ostentatiously  opened  and  delivered  open. 

So  long  as  the  Sultan  confined  his  persecution  to  the 
Christian  communities,  the  Moslems  made  no  strong 
objection,  though  in  justice  to  them  I  must  repeat  that  there 
was  always  a  considerable  number  who  condemned  the 
Armenian  massacres  and  other  atrocities,  sometimes  out  of 
sympathy  with  the  innocent  victims,  but  more  usually 
because  they  recognised  the  injury  that  was  done  to  the 
welfare  of  the  country.  When,  however,  Abdul  Hamid 
began  to  make  himself  objectionable  to  Moslem  and  Christian 
alike,  misfortune  made  the  two  parties  join  forces.  During 
the  first  half  of  1908  the  Committee  of  Union  and  Progress 
was  joined  by  numbers  of  Turks,  Albanians,  Bulgarians,  and 
Greeks. 

A  curious  development  of  the  movement  was  due  to 
Turkish  women.  Though  there  were  female  spies,  yet  the 
manner  of  life  of  Turkish  ladies  was  more  favourable  to  the 
new  movement.  It  offers  many  facilities  for  carrying 
messages  which  are  not  at  hand  for  men,  for  Turkish  public 
opinion  would  not  permit  either  spies  or  ordinary  poUce 
agents  to  search  them.  They  were  much  more  outspoken 
than  their  husbands  and  brothers.  Moreover,  a  large  num- 
ber of  the  wealthier  class  of  Turkish  women  had  received 
education  in  French  and  English,  and  their  ideas  had  been 
influenced  by  what  they  read.  They  played  a  large  part  as 
emissaries  of  the  revolutionary  party.  They  conveyed 
letters  and  verbal  messages  from  one  harem  to  another. 
They  were  not  less  active  in  Macedonia  than  were  their  sisters 
in  the  capital.  The  agents  of  the  Government  endeavoured 
to  preserve  the  loyalty  of  the  troops  by  representing  the 
revolutionary  movement  as  one  favoured  by  Greeks  and 
Bulgarians  and  against  the  Faithful,  but  Turkish  women 
instinctively  knew  better. 

The  Sultan's  spies  no  doubt  sent  hundreds  of  reports  on 
the  situation  to  Yildiz.    The  Sultan  became  alarmed,  and. 


THE  REVOLUTION  OF  1908  229 

ever  eager  to  crush  disaffection,  sent  a  Commission  to 
Salonica  with  instructions  to  stamp  out  the  movement 
everywhere,  but  especially  in  the  army.  In  Constantinople 
we  heard  much  about  this  Commission,  and  for  the  first  time 
we  learned  that  Yildiz  was  afraid  of  an  insurrection.  The 
satisfactory  feature  about  it  to  us  foreigners,  and  to  all  the 
Christian  population,  was  that  it  was  confined  strictly  to 
Moslems.  The  Commission  was  composed  of  some  of  the 
ablest  of  the  adherents  of  the  Sultan.  The  general  belief 
existed  that  it  would  be  followed  by  many  executions.  Its 
immediate  effect,  however,  was  very  different  from  what 
Abdul  Hamid  anticipated.  Two  officers  in  the  army  took  to 
the  Resna  Mountains  and  boldly  declared  themselves  in 
opposition  to  Abdul  Hamid ;  these  two  men,  whom  the  Com- 
mission had  reported  to  Yildiz  as  the  leaders  amongst  the 
disaffected  in  Salonica,  were  Niazi  Bey  and  Enver  Bey,  now 
Enver  Pasha,  the  Minister  of  War.  Niazi  was  the  first  man 
to  raise  the  flag  of  revolt.    This  was  on  July  5,  1908. 

The  Turkish  general  in  the  northern  portion  of  Macedonia 
was  Shemsi  Pasha.  Niazi  had  publicly  declared  for  the 
Constitution,  and  the  secret  Committee  had  issued  mani- 
festoes in  favour  of  it,  which  were  posted  in  Monastir,  the 
largest  town  in  that  district  of  the  country.  But  the 
Committee  and  Niazi  had  chosen  and  well  prepared  their 
ground.  In  the  country  between  Monastir  and  Ochrida 
the  great  majority  of  the  soldiers  had  sworn  fidelity  to  the 
Constitution.  When  Shemsi  marched  against  Niazi  he  was 
shot  ostentatiously  in  broad  daylight  in  Monastir  itself  by 
one  of  the  officers  of  the  army  which  he  commanded,  who, 
when  he  had  kiUed  his  man,  walked  coolly  away,  not  a  hand 
being  raised  to  arrest  him.  When  the  news  reached  Yildiz 
frantic  telegrams  were  sent  to  stamp  out  the  movement. 
Nazim  Bey,  not  to  be  confounded  with  Dr.  Nazim  or  with 
another  Nazim  whom  we  shall  hear  more  about,  who  had 
been  in  prison  for  seven  years  in  Armenia,  endeavoured  to 
crush  out  the  rebellion.  But  it  soon  became  evident  that 
the  army  in  Macedonia  would  not  act  against  the  rebels. 
Forty-eight  officers  were  arrested  on  the  report  of  Nazim  on 


230       FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

July  8,  and  sent  off  at  once  to  Constantinople,  their  principal 
accuser  being  Hakki  Bey.  Two  days  afterwards  Hakki  was 
shot  in  Salonica,  and  on  the  following  day,  July  ii,  Nazim 
Bey  was  wounded  in  open  day  in  the  streets  of  the  same  city. 
His  would-be  assassin  was  not  even  arrested.  Nazim  im- 
mediately returned  to  Constantinople  to  report  to  the  Sultan, 
and  a  second  Commission  was  sent  on  a  similar  mission  to  its 
predecessor. 

Enver  Bey,  who  had  been  attached  to  the  staff  of  Hilmi 
Pasha,  was  the  first  man  accused  by  this  second  Com- 
mission. They,  however,  acted  with  more  cunning  than 
their  predecessors.  Enver  was  invited  by  Abdul  Hamid  in 
flattering  terms  to  proceed  at  once  to  Constantinople  to 
inform  His  Majesty  of  the  position,  and  at  the  same  time 
promises  of  promotion  were  made  to  him.  Enver,  however, 
was  much  too  suspicious  to  be  caught  by  this  kind  of 
flattery.  He  therefore,  as  already  mentioned,  went  to  the 
Resna  Hills,  and  with  him  there  went  a  considerable  number 
of  soldiers.  The  movement  of  Niazi  had  become  an  in- 
surrection. Two  days  after  Hakki  Bey  had  been  shot  the 
C.U.P.  pubUcly  associated  itself  with  the  insurrection.  At 
the  same  time  the  Second  Army  Corps,  which  was  stationed  at 
Adrianople,  supported  the  demands  of  the  Macedonian 
troops,  and  when  the  Committee  cabled  direct  to  the  Sultan 
that  unless  he  granted  the  Constitution  the  Third  Army 
Corps  would  march  on  Constantinople,  the  Second  Army 
Corps  associated  themselves  with  its  comrades. 

When  Shemsi  was  killed  Osman  Pasha  was  named  as 
successor,  and  began  his  career  atMonastirby  a  message  from 
the  Sultan  threatening  the  direst  punishment  upon  the 
insurgents,  and  promising  all  sorts  of  rewards  to  those  who 
remained  loyal  to  Yildiz.  The  result  was  that  the  troops 
fired  upon  the  Pasha. 

In  the  spring  of  1908  the  Grand  Vizier  was  Ferid  Pasha, 
an  Albanian  of  pure  blood.  In  my  opinion  it  is  beyond 
doubt  that  he  behaved  loyally  to  the  Sultan.  I  have  known 
him  personally  for  several  years  and  believe  him  to  be  not 
only  an  honourable  and  trustworthy  Moslem,  but  a  man  of 


THE  REVOLUTION  OF  1908  231 

exceptional  ability.  I  may  here  interpolate  the  story  of  his 
appointment.  He  had  been  Governor  of  Konia,  and  on  my 
visit  to  that  city,  four  years  after  the  Revolution,  I  found  that 
both  natives  and  foreigners  spoke  highly  of  the  justice  of  his 
government  and  of  his  character. 

Two  or  three  years  before  the  time  of  which  I  am  speaking, 
the  post  of  Grand  Vizier  became  vacant,  and,  as  I  have 
already  explained,  Ferid  Pasha  was  appointed  as  a  stop-gap 
under  the  impression  that  he  might  be  removed  when  the 
two  secretaries  of  the  Sultan  agreed  as  to  his  successor. 
But  it  was  impossible  in  the  spring  of  1908  that  so  intelligent 
a  man  as  Ferid  should  not  see  that  the  arbitrary  rule  of  Abdul 
Hamid  was  in  extreme  danger,  and  equally  impossible  that 
he  should  not  sjntnpathise  with  the  movement  to  get  rid  of  it. 
Let  it  be  noted  that  in  Constantinople  and  throughout  the 
country  no  one  had  yet  spoken  of  deposing  the  Sultan.  All 
that  they  wished  was  the  re-establishment  of  a  Constitution 
and  the  transformation  of  the  Government  from  an  absolute 
to  a  limited  monarchy. 

When  Shemsi  was  shot,  and  when  the  revolt  began  rapidly 
to  spread  throughout  Macedonia  in  July,  Ferid  Pasha  was 
ordered  by  the  Sultan  to  take  measures  with  the  heads  of 
the  army  to  put  an  end  to  it  and  to  punish  the  discontented. 
Ferid  pointed  out  that  this  was  not  the  business  of  the  Grand 
Vizier,  but  of  the  Minister  of  War.  Let  me  remark  in  passing 
that  Turkish  Ministers  have  always  been  very  susceptible  to 
any  invasion  of  the  privileges  of  their  ministry.  The  Sultan 
however,  instead  of  leaving  the  matter  to  his  Minister  of 
War,  took  it  into  his  own  hands.  He  had  shewn  on  many 
previous  occasions  that  he  believed  he  was  much  more 
competent  than  any  Minister,  and  the  one  institution  in 
which  he  still  had  confidence  was  that  of  espionage.  To 
set  spies  to  work,  and  then  set  others  to  spy  upon  them,  was 
his  great  panacea  against  political  troubles.  He  at  once 
ordered  forty  spies  to  report  upon  the  conduct  of  the  troops 
in  Macedonia,  and  of  course  to  send  the  names  of  those 
officers  whose  loyalty  to  him  was  doubtful.  Unfortunately 
for  Abdul  the  object  of  the  mission  became  at  once  known 


232      FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

and  was  resented  by  the  great  mass  of  army  officers 
to  whom  espionage  of  course  was  peculiarly  obnoxious. 
Shortly  after  the  Revolution  General  von  der  Goltz  published 
a  letter  in  the  Neue  Freie  Presse  in  which  he  expressed 
the  opinion  that  the  system  of  espionage  was  the  principal 
grievance  of  the  Turkish  soldier.  When  the  mission  of  the 
forty  spies  was  known,  many  men  who  had  hesitated  to  join 
the  disaffected  party  now  saw  their  safety  lay  in  throwing  in 
their  lot  with  those  who  demanded  reforms.  An  influential 
number  of  officers  telegraphed  to  the  palace  their  request 
that  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  should  be  assembled.  Abdul 
Hamid  soon  learned,  for  the  telephone  was  constantly 
working  between  Yildiz  and  Salonica,  that  this  demand  was 
backed  by  the  whole  Third  Army  Corps,  that  is,  by  nearly  all 
the  troops  in  Macedonia.  Thereupon  the  Sultan  was  more 
determined  than  ever  to  suppress  the  movement.  He 
ordered  troops  from  Smyrna  to  go  to  Salonica,  evidently 
believing  that  these  troops  did  not  share  the  discontent 
amongst  their  fellow  soldiers. 

Then  there  came  a  serious  obstacle,  one,  in  fact,  of  an 
f  entirely  unexpected  character.  Moslemism  itself  was  about 
to  oppose  Abdul.  Against  such  a  conflict  of  Moslem 
against  Moslem  the  Sacred  Law  of  the  Sheri  is  especially 
strict.  But,  evidently  believing  that  the  class  of  Ulema  in 
Constantinople,  consisting  of  the  heads  of  the  Islamic  faith, 
would  make  no  objection,  Abdul  Hamid  apphed  formally 
to  the  Fetva  Emin6,  that  is,  the  head  of  the  Chief  Court  of 
Sacred  Law,  charged  with  the  issue  of  fetvas  or  legal 
decisions,  for  its  authorisation.  I  may  explain,  in  pas  sing, 
that  the  form  of  drawing  a  fetva  and  the  practice  of  employ- 
ing it  is  in  the  line  of  direct  descent  from  the  time  of  the 
Emperor  Justinian.  Upon  the  statement  of  a  simple  case, 
and  the  pajnnent  of  a  smaU  fee,  a  decision  may  be  obtained 
from  the  Fetva  Emine  on  almost  any  point  of  Turkish  law. 
I  have  obtained  at  least  twenty  such  decisions,  most  of  them 
relating  to  questions  of  succession.  They  correspond  to 
what  students  of  Roman  law  know  as  responsa  prudentum, 
the  "  answers  of  the  learned  in  law."    Such  answers   or 


THE  REVOLUTION  OF  1908  233 

fetvas  are  authoritative,  and  form  precedents  for  future 
use. 

The  question  put  for  Abdul  Hamid  was  in  the  usual  form, 
and  to  this  effect :  "Is  war  justifiable  against  Moslem 
soldiers  who  rebel  against  the  sovereign  authority  ?  "  The 
Court,  however,  decided  that  before  giving  an  answer  they 
must  have  a  statement  of  facts,  which  should  include  the 
demands  of  the  discontented.  I  had  the  pleasure  of  knowing 
the  Fetva  Emine  at  the  time.  He  is  usually  a  judge 
occupying  a  lofty  position  and  a  man  of  ability  and  char- 
acter. The  actual  occupant  had  the  confidence  of  all 
Moslems  in  Turkey  on  account  of  his  piety  and  independence. 
"  He  would  not  shake  hands  with  me,"  said  one  of  the  ex- 
ministers,  in  speaking  of  this  judge  in  the  early  autvmin 
of  1908,  "  because  he  knows  that  I  am  not  regular  in 
my  prayers."  He  was  a  very  old  man,  probably  eighty- 
five,  but  was  universally  respected  as  one  who  cared  nothing 
for  the  judgment  of  men,  be  they  Sultans,  Ministers,  or 
paupers.  Accordingly,  when  Abdul  Hamid  asked  for  the 
fetva,  both  sides  held  their  breath  in  expectation  of  what  his 
decision  would  be.  After  he  had  obtained  the  demands  of 
the  troops  and  fuller  explanation  of  the  facts,  he  gave  his 
answer.  Substantially  it  was  that  the  demands  for  reforms 
for  the  redress  of  grievances  and  for  government  by  Repre- 
sentative Chamber  were  not  against  the  Sacred  Law,  and 
consequently  if  the  demand  for  a  fetva  were  pressed  it  could 
not  sanction  the  war  by  Moslems  against  Moslems. 

In  consequence  of  this  decision,  the  Smyrna  troops  which 
were  on  their  way  to  Salonica  were  sent  back.  When  this 
step  was  known,  the  Salonica  army  formally  declared  that 
they  would  not  fight  against  the  revolted  troops  in  Monastir. 
From  that  decision  to  making  common  cause  with  them  was 
but  a  short  step.  Then  came  a  telegram  to  Yildiz  which 
sounded  the  knell  of  Abdul's  rule.  It  was  sent  either  on 
July  21  or  22,  1908,  and  demanded  the  re-establishment  of 
the  Constitution,  or  abdication,  mentioning  at  the  same  time 
that  the  revolted  troops  had  sworn  not  to  lay  down  their 
arms  until  the  Constitution  was  established. 


234       FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

Meantime  the  Sultan  had  not  been  idle.  His  great  object 
was  to  get  rid  of  the  disaffected  officers  both  in  the  army  and 
the  navy.  Within  the  first  fortnight  of  July  2,000  officers 
in  the  navy  were  promoted.  Fifty-five  columns  of  the 
Turkish  official  papers  were  filled  with  promotions  in  the 
Third  Army  Corps  at  Salonica  and  the  Second  at  Adrianople. 
The  Sultan  had  become  seriously  alarmed.  The  Ulema  had 
failed  him  and  the  demand  in  the  telegram  from  Monastir  for 
the  re-establishment  of  the  Constitution  was  like  a  thunder- 
bolt. Actually  it  was  an  ultimatum.  Almost  continuous 
sittings  took  place  during  the  forty-eight  hours  after  its 
arrival  at  Yildiz.  They  must  have  been  curious  meet- 
ings. I  have  heard  accounts  of  them  from  three  different 
persons  who  were  present.  It  was  known  that  the  Sultan 
was  in  a  most  irritable  mood,  and  to  suggest  either  his  ab- 
dication or  his  compliance  with  the  demands  of  his  revolted 
officers  was  more  than  any  Minister  ventured  to  undertake. 
Each  man  looked  at  or  suggested  his  neighbour. 

At  length  someone  proposed  that  Abdul  Houda,  the  Court 
astrologer,  should  be  called  in  as  the  only  man  who  dared 
suggest  to  His  Majesty  that  he  should  accept  the  Con- 
stitution. The  mention  of  such  an  officer  reminds  us  of  the 
curious  mediaeval  attitude  still  existing  in  the  Turkish  mind. 
Everyone  knew  that  such  a  functionary  existed,  that  he  was 
consulted  on  aU  important  occasions,  and  that  on  account  of 
his  faciUty  for  reading  the  heavens  he  was  supposed  to  bring 
supernatural  knowledge  which  could  not  be  despised.  Let 
me  say  in  passing  that,  after  the  Revolution,  the  cunning  old 
astrologer  came  to  live  in  the  island  of  Prinkipo  and  near  to 
my  own  house.  Those  who  knew  him,  amongst  whom  I  was 
not  one,  spoke  of  him  as  a  kindly,  well-intentioned  man  who 
did  not  appear  to  have  much  faith  in  his  own  reading  of  the 
stars. 

He  was,  however,  brought  before  the  Council,  and  after 
considerable  hesitation  consented  to  give  the  advice  that 
everybody  present  felt  must  be  given,  but  dared  not  give. 
He  was  ill  at  the  time,  and  had  to  be  carried  into  the  room 
upon  his  sick-bed.    But  he  gave  his  advice  boldly.    Though 


THE  REVOLUTION  OF  1908  235 

he  was  distrusted  by  the  Committee,  they  nevertheless 
looked  not  unfavourably  upon  him  during  the  few  months  of 
life  which  remained  to  him,  for  his  boldness  in  daring  to 
advise  the  Sultan  to  accept  a  Representative  Chamber. 

The  Sultan  even  yet  hesitated  to  accept  the  recom- 
mendation, and  his  telegram  to  Hilmi,  who  was  in  Salonica, 
urged  resistance.  But  the  Committee  were  determined,  and 
at  their  request  Hilmi  sent  a  telegram  to  the  Sultan  stating 
that  he  was  in  the  power  of  the  Committee  and  would  be  shot 
if  the  Constitution  were  not  proclaimed  within  forty-eight 
hours.  Then,  but  not  until  the  evening  of  July  22,  Ferid 
Pasha  resigned.  He  had  never  declared  himself  in  favoiu"  of 
the  Committee  of  Union  and  Progress,  but  he  knew  the 
country  too  well  to  advise  His  Majesty  to  resist  a  demand 
which  had  become  almost  universal. 

Then  the  Sultan  recognised  that  he  must  bow  to  the 
storm.  He  sent  for  the  two  men  whom  pubUc  opinion 
generally  recognised  as  the  men  of  the  highest  reputation  in 
the  ministerial  class.  One  was  Kutchuk  Said  and  the  other 
Kiamil  Pasha.  Each  of  these  men  had  at  one  time  believed 
his  life  to  be  in  danger  from  Abdul  Hamid's  vengeance.  I 
have  told  the  story  of  Kutchuk  Said's  taking  refuge  in  our 
Embassy  in  the  time  of  Sir  Philip  Currie.  Kiamil  had  taken 
refuge  in  the  British  Consulate  at  Smyrna  at  a  more  recent 
date,  until  Sir  Nicholas  O'Conor  received  assurances  that  if 
he  came  to  Constantinople  his  person  and  property  would  be 
safe.  They  were  simimoned  to  the  palace  because  they  had 
the  reputation  of  being  favourable  to  Constitutional  Govern- 
ment and  to  British  institutions,  and  therefore  likely  to  be 
popular.  On  the  evening  of  the  22nd  the  Sultan  published 
an  irade  declaring  that  Parliament  would  be  convoked. 

All  ranks  and  classes  in  Constantinople  went  delirious  with 
joy.  The  proprietors  of  the  Turkish  newspapers  met  to- 
gether and  agreed  to  a  resolution  which  they  immediately 
carried  into  effect  to  turn  out  the  censors  from  each  of  their 
offices.  The  decree  only  spoke  of  a  Representative  Chamber. 
The  Turkish  papers  chose  to  interpret  it  as  granting  all  the 
rights   under   Midhat's   Constitution,   a   document   which 


236      FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

during  thirty  years  had  been  idolised  by  Turkish  reformers 
as  a  symbol  of  Uberty.  The  popular  cries  became,  "  Vive  la 
Constitution  !  "  and  "  Vive  le  Sultan !  "  A  new  cry  taken  up 
everywhere  at  once  followed,  "  Down  with  the  spies  1  "  a  cry 
so  dangerous  that  Abdul  Hamid  and  the  creatures  around 
him  who  were  opposed  to  the  popular  movement  dared  not 
interfere.  Word  was  passed  round  that  on  Friday,  July  24, 
the  Sultan  would  go  in  state  to  St.  Sophia.  Many  years  had 
passed  since  the  Sovereign  had  visited  this  stately  temple 
raised  by  the  great  architects  of  the  time  of  Justinian  for 
Christian  worship,  and  justly  regarded  by  the  Turks  after 
their  capture  of  Constantinople  in  1453  as  the  glory  of  the 
city.  Pera,  Galata,  and  Stambul  burst  out  with  the  greatest 
display  of  flags  which  I  have  ever  seen. 

The  Revolution  was  an  unmistakably  popular  movement. 
By  this  I  do  not  mean  that  it  was  without  leaders,  but  that 
people  of  all  ranks  were  full  of  the  revolutionary  spirit,  and, 
once  action  had  commenced,  the  leaders  would  have  been 
incapable  of  stopping  it.  Newspaper  people,  who  had  felt  as 
acutely  as  any  section  of  the  population  the  burdens  of 
Abdul  Hamid's  coercion,  were  among  the  first  to  take  steps 
to  support  the  Revolution.  They  all  denounced  the  system 
of  espionage.  At  the  last  moment  Abdul  declined  to  go  to 
St.  Sophia.  Had  he  gone  he  would  have  been  frantically 
welcomed.  As  it  was,  throughout  the  24th  the  mere 
announcement  of  the  Sultan's  intention  to  cross  the  Horn 
and  go  thither  made  Abdul  for  the  time  popular.  An 
enormous  crowd,  however,  gathered  before  YUdiz,  which 
is  about  three  miles  from  Stambul.  They  clamoured  to 
see  the  Sultan,  and  kept  up  a  continual  shout  for  him  and 
the  Constitution.  When  he  shewed  himself  at  the  window  in 
reply  to  these  cries  he  was  cheered  by  a  mob  consisting 
about  equally  of  Moslems  and  Christians.  From  the 
window  he  made  a  short  speech,  in  which  he  declared  that 
henceforward  all  his  subjects,  without  reference  to  race  or 
religion,  would  be  treated  aUke. 

On  Sunday,  July  26,  a  crowd  of  mollahs  and  softas,  the 
latter  being  students  of  Moslem  law,  made  another  demon- 


THE  REVOLUTION  OF  1908  237 

stration  at  Yildiz  in  which  the  cry  was  raised  for  the  first 
time  in  the  Sultan's  presence,  "  Down  with  the  spies  !  "  The 
Sheik-ul- Islam  was  present,  and  other  leading  men  repre- 
senting the  chief  teachers  of  Islam,  The  Sheik-ul-Islam 
swore  the  Sultan  to  respect  the  Constitution  of  Midhat. 
This  was  another  distinct  step  confirming  the  popular  inter- 
pretation of  the  original  irade  which  spoke  only  of  the 
assembling  of  Parliament.  The  Council  of  Ministers  met, 
and  an  order  was  issued  abolishing  the  item  in  the  Budget 
which  provided  for  the  pay  of  the  spies.  The  Moslem 
portion  of  the  crowd  on  this  Sunday  passed  from  Yildiz  to 
the  residence  of  the  Armenian  Patriarch  in  Pera  in  order  to 
express  their  fraternal  feelings  with  his  community,  and 
subsequently  visited  the  Orthodox  Patriarch  and  even  the 
Bulgarian  Exarch. 

Speeches  were  delivered  in  many  places,  in  mosque  yards, 
even  in  the  great  mosque  of  Sultan  Ahmed  itself  on  the 
Hippodrome.  Everywhere  it  was  proclaimed  that  the 
Revolution  meant  "  hurriet,"  or  liberty,  equality,  and 
fraternity,  above  all  no  distinction  of  men  on  accoimt  of  their 
creed.  In  conversation  with  two  of  the  leading  speakers, 
of  whom  one  was  a  Jew,  they  spoke  with  enthusiasm  of 
the  sincere  desire  which  existed  among  the  leaders  of  the 
Revolution  to  have  the  adherence  of  all  Christian  denom- 
inations of  the  empire.  The  Armenians  responded  cordially, 
and  on  this  Sunday  and  on  the  following  days  speeches 
were  delivered  by  leading  Armenians  and  Greeks  declaring 
that  henceforward  it  would  be  possible  for  the  Christians  of 
the  empire  to  co-operate  cordially  with  their  Moslem 
brethren  for  the  benefit  of  the  empire. 

I  had  seen  something  of  both  these  demonstrations.  In 
that  of  the  Monday,  which  took  place  before  the  Town  Hall 
of  Pera,  immediately  opposite  to  which  is  my  own  house,  I 
estimated  that  there  were  at  least  2,000  Turkish  officers  and 
military  students  in  the  great  crowd.  In  the  processions 
which  went  through  the  streets  it  seemed  to  me  that  every 
public  carriage  in  the  place  had  been  taken  possession*  of . 
Such  carriages  in  Constantinople  are  usually  open,  and  an 


238       FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

arrangement  had  been  made  in  which  a  saracli,  or  moUah, 
should  be  seated  side  by  side  with  a  Christian  priest.  At  the 
principal  points  passed  by  this  procession,  prayers  were 
pubUcly  offered  up  for  the  Sultan  and  for  the  Constitution. 
The  sight  was  a  novel  one.  Hundreds  of  carriages, 
nearly  all  with  occupants  of  two  different  faiths,  thousands 
of  people,  about  equally  divided  between  Moslems  and 
Christians,  prayers  clearly  and  distinctly  read  either  from  a 
carriage  or  from  some  point  of  vantage,  and  the  whole  crowd 
standing  in  the  usual  Turkish  attitude  of  devotion,  that  is, 
with  the  hands  held  up  horizontally,  the  palms  skywards. 
At  the  end  of  each  prayer  there  came  a  great  volume  of 
Amin,  followed  usually  by  cheers  for  the  Constitution. 
These  processions  were  undoubtedly  carefully  organised, 
but  none  the  less  the  enthusiasm  was  general  and  honest. 
One  of  them  entered  the  courtyard  of  the  British  Embassy 
in  Pera,  the  Ambassador  and  his  staff,  however,  being  absent 
at  their  summer  residence  at  Therapia.  On  Sunday,  July 
30,  Sir  Gerard  Lowther  arrived,  and  the  cheers  for  King 
Edward  and  for  the  new  Ambassador  were  such  as  could  not 
leave  any  Englishman  unmoved. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

THE  YOUNG  TURKS  IN   POWER 

Popularity  of  Great  Britain — ^The  Waring  Guard — 
Great  Britain's  Disinterestedness — ^Abdul  Hamid's 
Oath — ^Prisoners  Released — ^A  Grave  Mistake — Ugly 
Rumours — ^A  New  Ministry  Under  Kiamil — Abdul 
Hamid  and  the  Kaiser's  Letter — Success  of  the  Revolu- 
tion— ^The  Palace  Staff — Abdul  Hamid's  Orders — Von 
der  Goltz  Suspected — ^Turks'  Vagueness  as  to  the  Con- 
stitution— I  Visit  the  Sheik-ul-Islam — A  Remarkable 
Man— The  Secret  Methods  of  the  C.U.P.— A  People 
Transformed — ^An  American  Lady's  Adventure — 
"  Yasak  " — ^A  Precipitated  Revolution — The  Austrians 
and  the  Albanians — ^A  Dif&cult  Situation — ^The 
Sultan's  Favourites. 

NOW  that  we  are  fighting  Turkey  it  is  interesting  to 
recall  the  great  popularity  of  our  country.  It  was 
not  merely  that  we  had  assisted  the  Turks  in  the 
time  of  the  Crimean  war.  It  was  natural  that  Armenians, 
Greeks,  and  Bulgarians  should  be  ready  to  demonstrate  in 
favour  of  Great  Britain,  but  it  might  have  been  anticipated 
that  the  Moslems  at  least  would  have  hesitated  to  declare 
in  our  favour.  They  have  never  done  so.  We  have  always 
been  popular  with  the  Turks,  and  the  reason  is  to  be  found  in 
the  excellent  reputation  for  justice  and  fair  deahng  that 
England  has  enjoyed  for  many  centuries  amongst  the  people 
of  the  Turkish  empire.  In  spite  of  the  fact  that  every  Turk 
knew  that  we  had  worried  Abdul  Hamid  during  a  generation 
on  account  of  his  misgovernment  of  Macedonia,  that  our 
statesmen  had  spoken  of  him  with  abhorrence,  and  other 
prominent  people  with  loathing,  on  account  of  his  un- 
qualifiable  cruelties  in  Armenia,  Turkish  Moslems  bore  us 
and  still  bear  us  no  ill  wilL 

239 


240      FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

I  may  be  pardoned  for  uttering  a  truth  that  is  not  so  well 
known  as  it  ought  to  be,  that  the  British  nation  obtained  a 
reputation  for  fair  dealing  and  for  love  of  justice  as  far  back 
as  the  eleventh  century,  and  has,  unconsciously  perhaps, 
lived  up  to  it.  Anna  Comnena,  an  Imperial  Princess 
occupied  with  events  during  the  middle  of  the  twelfth 
century,  speaks  of  the  Waring  Guard,*  composed  of  men  of 
the  same  race  as  ourselves  and  largely  added  to  by  detach- 
ments of  EngUshmen  who  left  our  country  after  the  Battle  of 
Hastings.  She  has  much  to  say  of  the  loyalty  and  love  of 
justice  of  these  English  soldiers,  and  she  tells  a  tale  in 
illustration  which  is  worth  remembering. 

A  Greek  woman  killed  a  member  of  this  famous  Imperial 
Guard.  She  was  brought  to  trial  before  the  Court  of  the 
Warings,  and  all  anticipated  that  she  would  be  condemned 
to  death.  But,  placed  upon  her  defence,  she  admitted  that 
she  had  killed  him,  but  described  how  he  had  attempted  to 
violate  her.  The  decision  of  the  Waring  Court  was  not  only 
that  she  was  justified  in  what  she  had  done,  but  that  all  the 
peculium  and  other  property  belonging  to  the  man  whom  she 
had  killed  should  be  given  over  to  her.  "  This,"  says  Anna 
Comnena,  "is  an  illustration  of  the  love  of  justice  of  these 
barbarians."  Their  reputation  for  a  love  of  justice  greatly 
impressed  the  Princess,  and  has  been  maintained  ever  since. 
The  valuable  works  of  Paul  Rycaut  in  the  latter  half  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  of  Sir  James  Porter  a  century  later,  and 
many  other  writers,  might  be  quoted  to  shew  that  both  the 
members  of  the  British  community  and  the  Levant  Company, 
which  lasted  from  1603  into  the  nineteenth  century,  steadily 
and  successfully  sought  to  live  up  to  the  ancient  reputation 
of  our  race. 

I  have  already  alluded  to  the  fact  that  in  the  massacre  of 
Chios,  Englishmen  were  ever  ready  to  act  in  defiance  of  the 
laws  and  the  rehgious  fanaticism  of  the  country,  when  they 
came  into  opposition  with  the  higher  laws  of  humanity.     In 

*  This  Guard  is  spoken  of  by  the  great  French  historian  and 
soldier.  Marshal  Villehardouin,  in  1204  as  English  and  Danes. 


THE  YOUNG  TURKS  IN  POWER     241 

spite  of  differences  of  religion,  the  Turkish  Moslem  respects 
conduct  founded  upon  national  tradition,  and  especially  when 
such  tradition  appeals  to  the  higher  motives  of  mankind. 
Moreover,  though  the  knowledge  of  the  history  of  our 
country  among  the  Turks  is  of  the  scantiest,  we  have 
the  reputation  of  being  the  protectors  of  the  desolate  and 
oppressed,  and  our  protests  against  Abdul  Hamid's  mis- 
government  and  cruelties  were  appreciated  even  by  men 
who  had  no  S3niipathy  with  Greeks  or  Armenians.  They 
knew  also  that  England  is  a  self-governing  country. 

It  astonished  the  old-fashioned  Turks  that  we  should  have 
consented  to  have  a  woman  as  our  sovereign,  but  they  had 
sufficient  intelligence  to  recognise  that  such  sovereignty 
meant  the  government  of  the  country  by  what  we  call 
Parliament,  When,  therefore,  the  misgovernment  of  Abdul 
Hamid  united  all  parties  into  opposition  against  him,  it  WcLS 
natural  that  England,  far  more  than  any  other  country, 
should  be  looked  to  as  likely  to  sjnnpathise  with  movements 
in  favour  of  liberty  and  justice ;  and  the  spontaneous  demon- 
stration of  all  ranks  of  the  people  which  burst  forth  on  the 
arrival  of  Sir  Gerard  Lowther  was  a  great  testimony  to  our 
traditional  reputation.  The  nation  recognised  that  we  had 
not  worried  the  Porte  about  reforms  for  Armenia  and 
Macedonia  in  order  to  gain  territorial  or  other  advantages, 
but  because  England  sympathises  and  is  expected  to 
sympathise  with  people  strugghng  to  be  free. 

Events  passed  rapidly  during  the  week  after  the  pro- 
clamation of  the  Constitution.  On  Tuesday  the  28th 
the  Committee  of  Union  and  Progress  formally  demanded 
the  dismissal  of  Izzet  and  Tachsin  Pashas,  who  had  been 
for  long  the  chief  advisers  at  the  palace.  Ismail,  the  head 
of  the  ArtUlery  Department,  was  also  sent  about  his 
business,  with  the  object,  probably,  of  obtaining  control 
over  the  guns.  The  cunning  old  astrologer  Abdul  Houda, 
probably  the  most  intimate  confidant  of  the  Sultan,  was 
dismissed,  and  left  Pera  for  the  island  of  Prinkipo.  The 
Ministers  of  War  and  of  Marine  were  dismissed,  the 
latter  having  remained  longer  in  of&ce   than  any  of  the 

R 


242       FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

Sultan's  Ministers  Habib  Melhame,  one  of  the  agents, 
anglice  spies,  returned  to  Constantinople  from  a  holiday, 
went  immediately  to  the  palace  and  was  advised  by  his 
friends  to  get  out  of  the  country  as  soon  as  possible.  He  was 
arrested  at  the  frontier  and  brought  back  to  the  capital. 
However,  he  and  his  two  brothers  managed  to  escape,  one  of 
them,  at  least,  with  a  large  fortune.  Most  of  such  men  saw 
that  the  crisis  was  upon  them,  and  tried  to  get  away.  Those 
who  remained,  beUeving  that  the  storm  would  blow  over,  soon 
found  themselves  in  prison. 

The  taking  of  the  oath  to  the  Constitution  by  the  Sultan 
had  been  done  before  very  few  persons.  The  Committee 
considered  that  the  representatives  of  the  Powers  should 
have  official  knowledge  that  the  proclamation  of  the  Con- 
stitution had  been  made,  and  on  the  31st  they  obtained 
from  His  Majesty  a  declaration  to  the  representatives  of 
the  Powers  that  he,  Abdul  Hamid,  had  sworn  to  abide  by  the 
provisions  of  the  Constitution.  The  following  days  were 
occupied  in  the  swearing  in  of  the  troops  in  Constantinople. 
The  oath  of  loyalty  to  the  Sovereign  was  made  ostentatiously 
conditional  upon  his  loyalty  to  the  Constitution.  The 
ordinary  troops  took  this  oath  willingly,  but  some  anxiety 
was  felt  as  to  whether  the  Palace  Guard,  mostly  composed  of 
Albanians  who  had  been  greatly  favoured  by  the  Sovereign, 
would  be  ready  to  take  it.  After  they  had  seen  that  their 
comrades,  not  belonging  to  the  Guard,  had  taken  the  oath, 
they  followed  their  example. 

On  the  proclamation  of  the  Constitution,  Kutchuk  Said 
was  made  Grand  Vizier,  and  marked  his  advent  by  a  serious 
blunder,  which  did  much  to  shake  his  popularity.  The 
political  prisoners,  of  whom  there  were  many,  in  every  prison 
in  the  capital,  were  at  once  released  after  the  proclamation. 
Many  of  the  poor  fellows  as  they  were  let  out  were  in- 
credulous, while  others  became  deUrious  with  joy.  They 
passed  from  filthy  and  dark  prisons  to  be  received  in 
bright  sunshine  by  excited  crowds  of  friends,  to  be  placed  in 
carriages,  to  be  cheered  and  accompanied  to  their  homes  by 
men  and  women  shouting  and  weeping,  some  indeed  laughing 


THE  YOUNG  TURKS  IN  POWER  243 

at  their  sorry  spectacle,  others  shrieking  with  dehght  for  the 
new  order  of  liberty. 

So  far  everybody  was  satisfied,  but  Kutchuk  emptied  the 
prisons,  setting  free  nearly  a  thousand  ordinary  criminals, 
including  many  robbers  and  cut-throats.  The  respectable 
portion  of  the  community  objected  to  this.  When  it  be- 
came known  that  it  was  by  order  of  the  Grand  Vizier,  whose 
only  explanation  was  that  in  the  great  prison  the  ordinary 
criminals  threatened  to  burn  it  down  if  they  were  not 
liberated  with  the  rest,  the  explanation  satisfied  no  one.  It 
was  then  remembered  that  Said  was  jointly  responsible  with 
the  Sultan  for  the  suppression  of  Midhat's  Constitution. 
My  own  impression  was,  at  the  time,  that  Said  would  have 
done  better  to  justify  himself  if  he  had  pointed  out  that 
amongst  the  criminals  set  free  there  were  many  political 
offenders  unjustly  condemned  for  non-political  offences, 
merely  because  they  were  suspected  of  disloyalty  to  Abdul 
Hamid.  Said  was  too  hasty  in  opening  the  prison  doors  so 
wide.  He  soon  committed  another  blunder  which  led  to  a 
belief  that  he  was  ready  to  aid  the  Sultan  at  the  risk  of 
violating  the  Constitution. 

It  had  been  judged  advisable  to  issue  an  Imperial  Decree, 
or  Hatt,  emphasising  certain  points  in  the  great  document. 
Said  and  the  Sheik-ul-Islam  were  charged  to  draw  up  the 
Hatt.  When  it  was  issued  it  was  at  once  generally  and 
justly  denoimced  as  placing  more  power  in  the  hands  of  the 
Sultan  than  the  Constitution  had  provided.  Article  27 
of  that  document  had  ordained  that  the  Sheik-ul-Islam 
and  the  Grand  Vizier  were  the  only  Ministers  who  were  to 
be  named  by  the  Sultan.  It  implied  rather  than  expressed 
that  all  other  Ministers  should  be  named  by  the  Grand 
Vizier.  The  new  Hatt  declared  that  the  Sultan  had  the 
absolute  right  to  name,  in  addition  to  the  two  ofiicers  men- 
tioned, the  Ministers  of  War  and  Marine.  Such  an  addition 
to  his  powers  would  make  him  master  of  the  situation.  The 
excitement  was  intense. 

For  the  first  time  since  July  24  ugly  rumours  were  about. 
The  Sheik-ul-Islam,  whose  conduct  throughout  the  Revo- 


244      FORTY  YEARS   IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

lution  was  statesmanlike,  immediately  resigned.  But  it  was 
not  until  August  9  that  he  gave  the  explanation  of  his 
resignation.  He  declared  that  he  and  Said  had  been  jointly 
charged  to  draw  up  the  decree,  but  that  Said  had  not  even 
consulted  him  on  the  matter.  A  Minister  then  in  power, 
with  whom  I  discussed  the  matter,  attributed  it  to  the 
cacoethes  scribendi  of  Said.  I  never  heard  Said's  explanation 
of  the  matter,  but  several  of  the  newspapers  declared  that  the 
mistake  was  simply  clerical.  I  can  well  believe  it,  from  what 
I  knew  of  Said,  but  following  the  first  blunder  he  now 
became  too  suspect  to  be  allowed  to  repeat  an  error  so  grave. 
He  resigned,  and  in  so  doing  gave  general  satisfaction. 

He  was  succeeded  on  August  6  by  a  new  ministry,  at  the 
head  of  which  was  brave  old  Kiamil.  He  was  then  on  the 
wrong  side  of  eighty,  but  throughout  his  life  had  always  been 
true  to  the  principles  of  constitutional  liberty,  and  had 
looked  to  England  for  reforms  to  be  established  in  his  own 
country. 

The  Committee,  meantime,  was  actively  employed  in 
clearing  out  reactionary  functionaries.  All  the  Ministers 
had  given  in  their  resignation  when  Said  resigned.  The 
Sheik-ul-Islam  by  common  consent  was  allowed  to  remain. 
So  also  was  Tewfik,  the  Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs.  It  is 
saying  much  to  state  that  the  new  ministry  thus  formed  was 
the  most  respectable  which  Turkey  had  had  for  a  generation. 
The  Ministry  of  Mines  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  Gabriel 
Effendi  Nouradunghian,  an  Armenian  whom  I  have  known 
during  the  last  thirty  years  as  singularly  able,  inteUigent,  and 
trustworthy.  Each  of  the  Ministers  under  Kiamil  took  in 
hand  the  clearing  of  his  own  Department  of  useless  function- 
aries, as  to  which  much  deserves  to  be  said.  There  was  not 
a  department  which  was  not  enormously  overstocked.  In 
many  cases  one  man  could  have  done  the  work  efficiently  for 
the  half-dozen  who  worked  inefficiently. 

Numbers  of  stories  were  about  like  the  following,  which  I 
know  to  be  true.  On  one  of  the  first  occasions  when  Abdul 
Hamid  received  a  letter  from  the  Kaiser  there  was  no  one 
about  the  palace  who  could  read  it  with  the  exception  of  a 


KIAMII.     I'ASIIA 


THE  YOUNG  TURKS  IN  POWER  245 

doctor  of  medicine,  who  was  a  Rumanian  Jew,  and  had  been 
in  attendance  on  some  of  the  servants  belonging  to  the  horde 
which  is  usually  attached  to  the  service  of  every  Turkish 
Pasha.  He  was  introduced  to  His  Majesty,  spoke  to  him  well 
in  Turkish,  and  thereupon  gave  verbally  a  translation  of  the 
Kaiser's  letter.  His  Majesty  expressed  his  delight  that  he 
had  a  subject,  for  the  doctor  had  become  one,  who  could 
read  German,  and  the  doctor,  having  explained  what  was 
his  profession  and  hinted  that  he  would  Uke  to  enter  the 
Turkish  service,  received  an  order  at  once  to  one  of  the  great 
public  departments  appointing  him  to  be  the  medical 
officer.  The  doctor  went  to  the  department,  presented  the 
order,  and  the  Director  of  the  department  himself  told  me 
that  of  course  they  would  have  to  pay  him  his  salary,  but 
that  they  did  not  want  his  services,  and  informed  him  that  if 
he  chose  to  come  once  a  month  he  would  receive  his  pay,  but 
that  he  had  better  not  shew  himself  at  any  other  time.  I 
came  to  know  this  Rumanian  Jew,  and  found  him,  now  that 
he  had  got  into  comfortable  circumstances,  a  very  decent 
fellow  who  took  an  intelligent  interest  in  European  politics, 
but  so  long  as  he  got  his  salaries  paid,  for  he  had  now 
succeeded  in  getting  appointments  at  two  other  places  on  the 
same  conditions,  he  was  quite  content. 

So  far  the  Revolution  had  been  a  brilliant  success.  The 
Constitution  had  been  promulgated,  corrupt  Ministers  had 
been  got  rid  of  ;  there  were  no  spies  to  dog  your  every  step, 
to  open  the  letters  sent  by  post  and  read  those  received  ;  no 
censorship  over  books  and  papers,  freedom  to  speak  on  all 
subjects,  liberty  to  travel  to  and  fro  within  the  empire 
without  being  asked  at  every  turn  for  your  passport,  a 
Constitution  which  decreed  that  there  should  be  no  im- 
prisonment without  trial.  All  these  results  had  been 
brought  about  by  the  energy  of  a  Committee,  mostly  secret, 
which  at  the  same  time  had  acted  with  splendid  moderation 
and  had  succeeded  without  a  single  case  of  bloodshed  ;  it  was 
a  superb  result. 

We  who  were  on  the  spot  sympathised  heart  and  soul  with 


S846       FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

the  new  Turkey  Party.  No  fair-minded  man  who  knew  the 
condition  of  things  in  Turkey  and  was  present  in  the  early 
days  of  the  Revolution  could  help  sympathising  with  them 
in  breaking  the  power  of  absolutism  as  represented  by  Abdul 
Hamid.  Nor,  so  far  as  my  own  observation  went,  was  there 
any  serious  reason  to  disbelieve  in  the  unselfish  aims  of  the 
members  of  the  Committee  of  Union  and  Progress.  The 
great  mass  of  the  community  was  with  them,  but  of  course 
there  were  serious  elements  of  reaction.  The  dismissal  of 
hundreds  of  employes  who  had  overstocked  every  depart- 
ment of  the  State,  not  because  their  services  were  wanted, 
but  to  attach  them  to  the  side  of  the  Sultan,  all  these  were 
naturally  opposed  to  the  Party  which  deprived  them  of  their 
living.  I  have  said  that  many  were  employed  to  compel 
them  to  become  loyal  servants  of  the  Sultan,  but  there  were 
hundreds  of  others  who  were  appointed  by  the  ladies  of  the 
Sultan's  harem,  who  had  no  qualifications  likely  to  render 
them  useful  public  servants.  Cooks  and  housemaids  would 
request  those  holding  office  in  connection  with  the  palace 
to  provide  situations  for  their  poor  relatives,  and  the 
extent  to  which  these  requests  were  complied  with  is  almost 
incredible. 

In  the  great  Naval  School  situated  in  the  island  of  Halki, 
boys  were  sent  to  be  trained  as  officers  in  the  navy  who 
were  unable  to  read  and  write.  A  Turkish  professor  in  this 
college,  with  whom  I  was  intimate,  told  me  repeatedly  of 
orders  they  had  received  which  rendered  the  useful  working 
of  the  college  almost  impossible.  When  he  complained  that 
the  college  was  not  an  elementary  school,  and  that  it  was 
useless  to  teach  these  boys  navigation  or  any  of  the  other 
subjects  with  which  a  naval  officer  ought  to  be  acquainted, 
he  was  informed  that  the  orders  came  from  the  palace,  and 
that  all  that  was  possible  should  be  done  with  the  boys. 
When  the  annual  examination  came  in  order  to  see  who  were 
fit  to  receive  commissions  in  the  navy,  the  same  professor 
told  me  that  half  the  boys  were  incapable  of  giving  correct 
answers  to  almost  any  question  set  them.  The  head  of  the 
establishment  did  indeed  make  a  protest,  but  was  told  at  the 


THE  YOUNG  TURKS   IN  POWER  247 

palace  that,  without  regard  to  examination,  the  boys  must 
be  passed  as  officers. 

The  MiHtary  School  or  Harbia  was  in  a  similar  condition. 
During  a  considerable  period  the  young  men  had  had  the 
advantage  of  instruction  from  von  der  Goltz  Pasha,  a  man  of 
distinguished  ability,  a  soldier  greatly  respected  in  Germany, 
and  one  who  took  interest  in  his  work.  A  few  of  his  students 
followed  his  lectures  very  closely  and  profited  by  them,  but 
unless  the  young  men  chose  to  work  there  was  nothing  to 
prevent  him  from  remaining  idle.  An  amusing  incident 
occurred  in  reference  to  von  der  Goltz  Pasha  which  he  at 
least  has  not  forgotten.  He  had  before  him  a  map  of  the 
environs  of  Constantinople,  upon  which  Yildiz  and  the 
neighbourhood  was  marked  like  every  other  object  of 
importance.  On  one  occasion  he  seems  to  have  placed  his 
pointer  as  if  by  accident  on  Yildiz  and  to  have  asked  the 
question  how  such  a  place  should  be  attacked  or  defended. 
Spies  soon  brought  the  incident  to  the  knowledge  of  the 
Sultan,  and  for  a  short  time  von  der  Goltz  was  suspended 
until  the  Sultan  could  be  assured  that  the  lecturer  had  no 
sinister  designs. 

When  Young  Turkey  attempted  to  introduce  order  in  the 
various  departments,  all  who  had  an  interest  in  maintaining 
the  bad  old  traditions  became  opposed,  and  thus,  as  the 
reforms  proceeded,  the  party  of  reaction  increased.  It  soon 
became  evident  that  there  would  be  a  conflict  between  the 
Young  Turkey  Party  and  the  reactionaries  who  adhered  to 
the  Sultan.  Young  Turkey,  though  it  profoundly  distrusted 
the  Sultan,  decided  not  to  dethrone  him.  Had  they  at- 
tempted to  do  so  at  first  there  would  probably  have  been 
civil  war.  "  The  divinity  that  hedges  in  a  king  "  applies 
equally  to  a  Sultan,  and  there  would  always  be  a  party  in 
Turkey  in  favour  of  the  reigning  sovereign.  His  conduct 
in  the  first  instance  was  an  illustration  of  the  cleverness 
which  his  flatterers  represented  as  genius. 

When  Abdul  learned  that  the  army  and  the  moUahs,  who 
are  the  two  powers  in  Constantinople  which  count,  were 
united  and  determined  to  exact  Constitution  or  abdication. 


248       FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

he  yielded.  The  only  sign  of  resistance  he  made  in  these  days 
was  the  one  already  mentioned  by  which  he  endeavoured  to 
retain  the  right  of  appointing  the  Ministers  of  War  and  of 
Marine.  He  endeavoured  even  to  claim  credit  not  only  for 
having  re-established  the  Constitution,  but  for  having  been 
its  author  on  his  accession  to  the  throne.  Both  Moslems  and 
Christians  were  willing  to  allow  him  to  put  forward  such 
claims  so  long  as  he  loyally  accepted  the  Constitution,  which, 
as  we  have  seen,  he  swore  to  observe.  I  expressed  the  belief 
in  an  EngUsh  Review  in  the  month  of  September,  1908,  that 
his  position  on  the  throne  had  actually  been  strengthened 
by  his  conduct  since  the  Revolution.  It  would  have  been 
difficiilt  and  probably  impossible  for  Young  Turkey  to  have 
dethroned  Abdul  Hamid  had  he  remained  faithful  to  his  oath 
to  respect  the  Constitution. 

It  must  never  be  forgotten,  however,  that  all  the  talk 
about  Constitution,  indeed,  all  interest  in  political  questions, 
was  confined  to  a  small  section  of  the  community.  The 
depth  of  the  ignorance  of  the  Turkish  masses  on  such  a 
subject  is  almost  incredible.  The  ordinary  hamal,  or  porter, 
in  the  towns,  like  the  ordinary  peasant  in  the  country,  when 
they  heard  that  His  Majesty  had  sworn  to  be  faithful  to  the 
Constitution  enquired  what  it  was.  Was  it  a  person  ?  Was 
it  a  new  CaUph?  And  very  few  could  give  any  clear 
explanation.  The  words  "  hberty  "  and  "  equality  "  meant 
something  good,  though  they  could  not  have  said  what. 
To  some  they  signified  general  licence.  Two  English  friends 
of  mine  were  motoring  outside  Smyrna  when  they  were  set 
upon  by  a  number  of  Turkish  boys,  who  flung  stones  at 
them.  The  Englishmen  gave  chase  and  caught  the  principal 
offenders.  The  eldest  was  asked  why  he  had  thrown  stones. 
"  Hurriet  var,"  was  the  reply.  "  There's  hberty.  We  can 
do  what  we  like  now."  The  Englishman  replied,  "  Hurriet 
var,  and  I  am  at  liberty  to  give  you  a  good  thrashing.  Why 
not  ?  "  One  of  the  boys  said  yes,  he  supposed  that  would 
be  so,  but  he  hoped  the  hberty  would  not  be  used.  The 
Englishman  replied  that  it  would  not  be  used  that  time,  but  if 
the  offence  were  repeated  he  would  use  it  to  the  fullest  extent. 


THE  YOUNG   TURKS  IN  POWER  249 

The  workmen  on  a  newspaper  during  this  time  asked  for  a 
large  increase  of  wages.  "  But  why  ?  "  asked  the  owner. 
"  Because  there  is  a  Constitution."  The  tramway  men 
struck  for  higher  wages,  and  the  only  justification  which  they 
put  forward  was  that  there  was  now  a  Constitution.  Yet 
men  of  all  classes  as  they  marched  below  my  window  cheered 
in  the  lustiest  manner  for  the  Constitution.  Throughout  the 
month  of  August  smuggled  tobacco  was  openly  sold  in  the 
streets  at  a  very  cheap  rate,  buyers  and  sellers  alike  con- 
sidering that  the  Constitution  allowed  men  to  set  aside  the 
law  which  had  made  the  sale  of  tobacco  a  Government 
monopoly. 

The  agitation  for  a  Constitution  was  practically  confined 
to  Constantinople  and  Salonica.  But  after  it  had  been 
proclaimed  many  of  the  dismissed  employes  throughout  the 
empire  found  their  way  to  the  capital  and  increased  the 
number  of  the  disaffected.  I  repeat  that  the  two  powers  in 
the  agitation  which  counted  were  the  moUahs  and  the  army. 
The  mollah  caste  might  naturally  be  suspected  of  a  tendency 
to  reaction,  because  the  new  doctrine  proclaimed  liberty 
without  distinction  of  religion  to  all  classes  of  the  com- 
munity, and  such  equality  was  believed  to  be  against  the 
teaching  of  the  leaders  of  Mahometan  thought  and  against 
the  national  traditions.  They  continued,  however,  with  the 
Sheik-ul-Islam  at  their  head,  to  favour  the  movement. 

I  was  particularly  interested  in  the  attitude  of  the  Sheik-ul- 
Islam  and  the  leaders  of  Mahometan  thought  during  the 
autumn  of  1908,  and  being  anxious  to  hear  at  first  hand 
what  was  their  attitude,  I  sought  and  was  favoured  with  an 
interview  with  Saba-eddin.  It  was  one  which  I  shall  always 
recall  with  pleasure.  The  venerable  Sheik-ul-Islam  was 
seated  in  his  beautiful  cream-coloured  robe,  and  around  him 
were  four  or  five  of  the  most  eminent  dignitaries  in  Turkish 
Islam.  In  the  course  of  the  conversation  I  called  his  atten- 
tion to  the  fact  that  he  had  declared  that  Mahometanisra 
was  favourable  to  the  idea  of  liberty  for  Christians  as 
well  as  Moslems.  He  reaffirmed  this  statement.  Then  he 
remarked  to  me,  "  I  understand  that  you  have  paid  special 


250       FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

attention  to  the  early  spread  of  Islam  during  the  life  of  the 
Prophet  and  afterwards,"  and  asked  what  I  thought  about  it. 
I  replied  that  the  century  after  Mahomet's  death  was  the 
most  remarkable  century  of  conquest  with  which  I  was 
acquainted.  Then  he  asked  what  was  my  explanation  of 
it  ?  I  said  that  I  would  very  much  prefer  to  hear  his. 
Without  more  ado  he  propounded  the  proposition  that  the 
answer  was  to  be  found  in  the  recognition  by  early  Moslems 
that  Christians  were  to  enjoy  the  same  liberty  as  BeUevers, 
and  he  thereupon  mentioned  instances  of  various  tribes  who 
had  voluntarily  submitted  to  the  successors  of  Mahomet  in 
order  that  they  might  have  the  advantage  of  the  equitable 
rule  which  he  estabhshed 

It  was  intensely  interesting  to  watch  the  profound  atten- 
tion which  the  other  dignitaries  in  the  room  paid  to  this 
explanation.  It  impressed  me,  rightly  or  wrongly,  with  the 
idea  that  they  were  afraid  he  should  say  something  that 
would  have  been  too  favourable  to  Christians.  When  he 
had  done  I  suggested  that  there  were  many  cases,  even  in 
early  Mahometan  history,  shewing  that  Christians  were 
persecuted  on  account  of  their  faith.  He  admitted  that 
there  were  such  cases,  but  said  that  they  were  abuses  and 
violations  of  the  teaching  of  Islam.  "  The  farther  we  go 
back,"  said  he,  "  with  the  teaching  and  practice  of  the 
first  century  of  our  era,  the  more  completely  should  we  find 
that  Hberty  and  equality  were  taught  and  practised  by 
early  Moslems." 

It  was  evidently  a  subject  difficult  to  pursue,  and  once  the 
position  was  taken  up  that  the  persecution  of  Christians  on 
account  of  their  faith  was  an  abuse,  I  had  httle  further  to 
say.  The  incident,  however,  was  profoundly  interesting  as 
shewing  that  not  merely  amongst  civilians,  but  at  the  very 
centre  of  the  Islamic  faith  in  Turkey  the  idea  of  religious 
equaUty  was  firmly  fixed.  Let  me  add  that  up  to  this  hour 
I  am  unaware  that  the  Sheik  or  those  immediately  around 
him  have  ever  sanctioned  any  teaching  or  practice  which  is 
not  in  conformity  with  the  principles  thus  laid  down.  It 
was  these  men  who  supplied  the  religious  sentiment  which 


THE  YOUNG  TURKS  IN  POWER  251 

justified  the  army  in  asking  for  a  reform.  It  is  to  the  credit 
of  Young  Turkey  that  it  had  successed  entirely  in  being 
supported  by  the  reUgious  section  of  the  Moslem  community. 

Young  Turkey  secured  the  army  in  Macedonia  by  getting 
rid  of  the  reactionary  members  in  the  Second  Army  Corps. 
The  time-expired  soldiers  of  that  corps  were  dismissed  and 
shipped  back  to  their  homes  in  Anatolia.  At  the  same  time 
many  officers,  whose  loyalty  to  the  Committee  was  trusted, 
were  sent  to  Stambul  and  worked  amongst  the  army  there. 
The  Committee  at  once  expressed  a  desire  to  dissolve  as  soon 
as  a  meeting  of  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  could  be  obtained, 
and  to  hand  over  the  government  of  the  country  to  be 
carried  on  upon  constitutional  lines.  This  intention  was 
fairly  well  carried  out.  An  election  took  place,  and  for  the 
first  time  for  a  generation  a  Representative  Assembly  met  in 
Stambul. 

The  way  in  which  the  Committee  of  Union  and  Progress 
had  brought  about  the  Revolution  was  really  remarkable.  I 
do  not  believe  that  any  foreigner  whatever  knew  of  its  action 
until  the  beginning  of  July,  1908.  The  Committee  was  itself 
impersonal.  I  am  assured  that  very  few  of  the  members 
themselves  knew  who  was  its  temporary  leader. 

During  the  nine  months  following  the  Revolution  of 
July  23,  1908,  a  strange  delirium  of  joy  seemed  to  pervade 
most  sections  of  the  community  in  Constantinople.  Abso- 
lutism had  been  got  rid  of,  the  hideous  hostihty  between 
Moslems  and  Christians  had  ceased.  Satisfaction  and  hope 
were  everywhere  present.  As  an  illustration  of  this  new 
attitude,  let  me  allude  to  the  story  already  mentioned  of  the 
institution  in  Constantinople  maintained  by  the  Society  of 
Friends,  situated  at  Kimi  Kapou,  a  populous  Armenian 
quarter  in  Stambul  where  the  Patriarch's  cathedral 
is  situated.  After  the  brutal  massacres  of  Armenians  in 
1895-97,  certain  Quaker  ladies  took  in  hand  the  aiding  of  the 
widows  and  orphans  who  were  the  victims  of  these  mas- 
sacres. Armenian  women  seem  to  have  a  traditional  facihty 
for  fine  needlework.  The  Quaker  ladies  in  question  found 
materials  for  them,  paid  current  wages,  and  numbers  of 


252  FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 
women  and  girls  were  able  to  live  who  otherwise,  in  all 
probability,  would  have  starved.  The  produce  of  their  work 
found  a  fairly  ready  sale,  mostly  in  England.  Orphan 
children  also  were  taught  gratuitously.  Night  classes  for 
young  men  were  established,  were  eagerly  attended,  and  the 
institution  became  a  valuable  educational  centre. 

I  have  already  told  the  story  how  the  old  hodja  joined 
heartily  in  the  hymn  which  he  had  copied  down  from  a 
placard  on  the  walls,  "  Holy,  Holy,  Holy."  It  will  be 
interesting  to  hear  that  he  appreciated  it  very  highly,  with 
the  exception  of  the  last  verse,  which  brings  in  the  Trinity. 
But  my  point  here  is  that  after  the  revolution  the  work  of 
the  ladies  in  question  was  allowed  to  continue,  not  only 
without  interruption,  but  was  greatly  appreciated  by  the 
Turks  themselves. 

It  was  a  wonderful  sight  to  see  the  transformation  in  the 
aspect  of  the  people.  The  lower  classes  were  happy  without 
exactly  knowing  why.  Massacres  had  ceased,  the  good  time 
had  come.  During  the  elections  for  the  Chamber  of 
Deputies,  processions  seemed  to  be  formed  spontaneously. 
Men  and  boys  and  even  Turkish  women  joined  in  them. 
Bands  of  music  were  occasionally  procured.  Somebody 
would  call  for  cheers  for  the  Constitution,  and  a  hearty  reply 
was  always  given.  A  mollah  or  a  Christian  priest  would  say 
a  few  words  in  praise  of  liberty,  in  praise  of  the  new  regime 
which  had  got  rid  of  the  spies,  and  the  applause,  always  by 
hearty  hand-clapping,  was  a  deUght  to  hear. 

Every  day  we  heard  of  new  incidents  of  the  spirit  of 
satisfaction  among  the  people.  A  Russian  lady  of  my 
acquaintance,  accompanied  by  an  American  lady  who  spoke 
nothing  but  English,  was  crossing  the  ever-crowded  Galata 
bridge.  A  Turkish  lady  was  having  a  dispute  which 
attracted  the  American's  attention,  and  the  Turkish  lady 
appealed  to  her.  Her  friend  explained  in  Turkish  that  her 
companion  only  spoke  EngUsh,  whereupon  the  Turkish 
lady  seized  her  hand  and  said,  "  We  are  sisters  now,  because 
we  also  have  a  Constitution.  Won't  you  recognise  me  as  a 
sister  ?  "    The  American,  when  the  question  was  explained 


THE  YOUNG  TURKS  IN  POWER  253 

to  her,  gladly  consented,  and  the  two  women  walked  hand  in 
hand  across  the  bridge,  rejoicing  that  both  belonged  to  free 
countries.  "  Hurrah  for  the  Constitution ! "  was  the 
parting  salute  on  each  side,  though  in  two  languages. 

Liberty  was  in  the  air.  The  general  aspect  recalls  that 
of  men  who  had  recovered  from  a  long  sickness,  of  men 
who  have  regained  sight.  Restrictions  were  ever3rwhere 
abolished.  "  Yasak  "  is  the  Turkish  word  for  forbidden. 
Everything  had  been  yasak  under  the  old  regime.  The 
native  must  not  be  seen  with  European  newspapers  ;  it  was 
yasak.  An  EngUsh  official  was  taking  street  photographs 
avowedly  for  the  purpose  of  helping  Moslems  as  well  as 
Christians.  He  was  stopped.  It  was  yasak.  The  number 
of  things  which  were  yasak  had  been  steadily  increasing 
during  the  last  ten  years.  Entrance  into  the  mosque,  which 
for  centuries  had  been  permitted  for  visitors,  became  yasak. 
Even  entry  into  St.  Sophia  during  the  two  years  preceding 
the  Revolution  was  only  possible  to  foreigners  under  orders 
obtained  through  a  Consulate  or  Embassy.  The  restrictions 
were  silly  and  irritating.  The  mollahs  did  not  like  them,  but 
were  afraid  to  disobey.  Under  the  new  regime  people  were 
permitted  to  meet  in  any  numbers  and  wherever  they  liked. 

On  December  17,  1908,  when  the  Deputies  met,  the  great 
church-mosque  of  St.  Sophia  was  crowded  inside  with 
visitors,  while  the  outer  courts  were  equally  crammed  with 
people.  I  endeavoured  to  get  in,  but  amidst  the  tens  of 
thousands  who  were  present  concluded  that  I  must  forego 
that  pleasure. 

Before  leaving  the  subject  of  the  Revolution,  I  must  call 
attention  to  certain  incidents  which  precipitated  the  Pro- 
clamation and  caused  the  Revolution  to  be  brought  about 
in  July,  and  not,  as  had  been  arranged,  in  September.  The 
intention  of  the  Committee  was  that  the  Revolution  should 
take  place  on  September  i,  the  date  of  Abdul  Hamid's 
accession.  In  fixing  that  date  they  had  been  influenced  by 
the  historical  meeting  at  Reval,  where  they  believed  that  the 
Sovereigns  had  decided  to  demand  the  appointment  of  a 


254       FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

Governor  for  Macedonia  to  be  approved  by  the  Powers. 
That  would  probably  have  been  heartily  welcomed,  even  by 
the  Committee  twelve  months  earUer.  It  is  what  the  Balkan 
Committee  in  England  had  been  urging  upon  the  British 
Government  for  at  least  three  or  four  years.  But  the 
project  had  become  too  small  for  the  Committee.  They  now 
wanted  not  merely  good  government  for  Macedonia,  but  for 
the  whole  of  the  empire.  The  Reval  proposal  looked  like  the 
estabUshment  of  an  autonomous  Macedonia,  which,  following 
the  precedent  of  Eastern  Rumelia,  would  soon  become 
independent  of  the  empire.  Arrangements  had  been  made 
for  a  general  demonstration  on  the  day  already  mentioned, 
September  i,  and  it  would  have  come  off  on  that  day  but 
for  an  accidental  circumstance,  if  circumstances  ever  are 
accidental.  So  completely  were  the  leaders  of  the  Com- 
mittee outside  Turkey  taken  by  surprise,  that  when  in  July 
the  Constitution  was  proclaimed,  the  Paris  Committee  was 
incredulous.  It  was  hardly  less  a  surprise  to  the  diplomats 
in  Constantinople,  who  until  July  23  had  no  reason  to 
anticipate  a  revolutionary  change. 

The  accidental  circumstance  in  question  was  the  follow- 
ing :  in  Uskub  there  were  several  casinos,  kept  by  low- 
class  Austrian  subjects.  Attached  to  them,  as  is  usually 
the  case  in  Austrian  cities,  were  gambUng  dens  and  brothels. 
These  places  aroused  the  anger  of  the  Albanian  chiefs,  who 
declared  that  their  young  men  were  decoyed  into  them,  lost 
money,  and  were  debauched.  The  Austrians  throughout 
Macedonia,  and  as  far  as  Constantinople  itself,  have  many 
such  dens  and  licensed  houses  for  women  under  their 
jurisdiction.  The  announcement  was  made  that  there  was 
to  be  a  picnic  on  a  grand  scale  at  Fersovitch,  about  equally 
distant  from  Uskub  and  Kossova.  The  organisers  of  the 
picnic  were  the  Austrian  Consul  and  the  keepers  of  the 
casinos. 

The  decent-minded  section  of  the  Albanians  rightly 
concluded  that  it  was  to  be  an  orgy  on  a  great  scale,  and 
determined  that  it  should  not  take  place.  They  burnt  a 
number  of  sheds  and  temporary  casinos  at  Fersovitch,  and 


THE  YOUNG  TURKS  IN  POWER  255 

sent  word  to  the  Austrian  Consul  that  they  would  not  allow 
the  picnic  to  take  place  or  the  train  to  run.  Further,  they 
threatened  to  burn  the  casinos  in  Uskub  if  the  attempt  were 
persisted  in.  Twenty  thousand  Albanians  gathered  on  the 
neighbouring  hills  ready  to  carry  out  these  threats.  There 
was  nothing  political  in  their  action.  There  was  only  the 
honest  desire  of  clean-minded  mountaineers  to  put  an  end  to 
the  debauchery  of  their  sons.  When  the  news  reached  the 
Committee  in  Salonica,  as  it  did  very  speedily,  they  became 
alarmed.  They  believed,  as  did  we  all,  that  the  Austrians 
were  eager  for  the  opportunity  of  invading  Macedonia,  and 
if  the  Albanians  on  the  hills  carried  out  their  threats  their 
action  would  bring  in  the  Austrians.  Moslems  and  Chris- 
tians alike  would  take  part  in  the  destruction  of  the  casinos, 
and  the  entry  of  the  Austrians  would  inevitably  create 
such  disturbance  as  to  upset  the  plans  for  celebrating  the 
proclamation  of  the  Constitution  in  September. 

Prominent  and  influential  members  of  the  Committee 
hastened  to  the  Albanian  leaders.  A  conference  between 
them  was  held  at  Fersovitch,  and  lasted  nearly  a  fortnight. 
Galib  Bey,  the  officer  commanding  the  troops  at  Kossova 
and  Uskub,  received  orders  from  Yildiz  to  disperse  the 
Albanians.  Happily,  he  was  himself  a  member  of  the 
Committee,  and  took  part  in  the  conference.  The  dis- 
cussions with  the  Albanians  were  long  and  careful.  The 
Albanians  are  slow-minded  men,  and  hesitated  about 
throwing  in  their  lot  with  the  Committee.  At  last,  however, 
they  came  to  the  conclusion  to  support  their  demand  for 
a  Constitution.  They  bound  themselves  together  for  this 
purpose  by  giving  the  solemn  national  oath,  the  Bessa,  a 
form  of  pledge  which  the  Albanian  rarely  violates.  From 
that  time  they  became  members  of  the  revolutionary 
party.  Fersovitch  continued  to  play  an  important  part 
until  July  24. 

It  was  the  entry  of  the  Albanians,  who  from  that  time 
gave  their  hearty  support  to  the  Committee,  which  caused 
the  Revolution  of  July,  1908,  to  be  accepted  with  such 
unanimity  in  Macedonia  and  Adrianople,  that  no  reactionary 


256       FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

party  either  in  the  capital  or  in  Asia  Minor  even  attempted  to 
make  resistance. 

As  the  Albanians  of  the  capital,  who  had  been  the  petted 
soldiers  of  the  Sultan,  and  favoured  to  such  an  extent  by  him 
that  the  other  troops  in  Constantinople  were  violently  opposed 
to  them,  had  been  gathered  in  barracks  around  Yildiz,  fears 
were  entertained  that  they  might  continue  their  personal 
loyalty  to  Abdul  Hamid.  This  fear  existed  until  the 
attempt  of  April,  1909.  But,  except  in  a  few  individual  cases, 
the  Albanians  in  the  capital  followed  the  example  of  their 
brethren  in  Macedonia,  and  all  conflict  between  them  and 
the  rest  of  the  troops  became  impossible.  This  co-operation 
and  non-opposition  by  the  Albanian  troops  to  the  deliverers 
under  Shevket  Pasha  was  largely  assisted  by  the  fact  that  the 
Albanians  in  the  capital,  like  Ferid  Pasha,  the  ex-Grand 
Vizier  and  many  others,  would  have  nothing  further  to  do 
with  Abdul  Hamid. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

THE  COUNTER  REVOLUTION  OF  APRIL   I3,    I909 

The  Unemployed — ^Turkish  Anti-Semitism — Javad 
Bey  Appointed  Minister  of  Finance — The  Reactionaries 
— ^A  Military  Revolt — ^Disturbing  Reports — ^The  Sacred 
Law — Mahmud  Mukhtar's  Loyalty — His  FUght — My 
Son's  Prompt  Action — Surrounded — The  Dragomans 
and  the  Sultan — ^An  Interrupted  Turkish  Bath — ^A 
Matter  of  Life  or  Death — Mukhtar's  Escape — ^A  Hail  of 
Bullets — ^The  Meaning  of  the  Movement — A  Surprise 
to  the  Cabinet — Nazim  Pasha's  Escape — ^Dissatisfaction 
with  the  C.U.P. — ^The  Comedy  of  the  Steamers — Ab- 
surd Anomalies — Turkification  and  Tyranny — ^The 
Nationalists — Official  Murders — ^What  Occurred  at  Sal- 
onica — The  Army  of  Deliverance — ^A  Systematic  Coun- 
ter-stroke— The  Tables  Turned — ^The  Exodus  From  the 
Palace. 

IT  was  almost  inconceivable  that  the  Revolution  should 
not  be  followed  by  attempts  at  reaction.  While  it  is 
true  that  the  great  majority  of  the  nation,  irrespective 
of  race  and  creed,  were  delighted  to  see  the  power  of 
Abdul  Hamid  checked,  the  subsequent  reforms  which  the 
makers  of  the  Revolution  judged  necessary,  in  the  first 
instance  to  maintain  themselves  in  power,  and  in  the  second 
to  provide  for  free  government,  created  a  great  many 
reactionaries.  All  the  dismissed  employes  throughout  the 
capital,  and  indeed  throughout  the  empire,  naturally 
preferred  the  old  regime.  T^ethousands  ofjpies-savsLtheir 
occupation  gone.  These  were  the  two'most  important 
classes  iiTtHe  country  who  were  discontented  with  the  new 
Government.  A  third  class,  happily  less  important  in  point 
of  numbers,  were  much  counted  upon  by  the  reactionaries. 

257  s 


258       FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

These  were  the  Moslem  fanatics.  One  of  the  earliest  cries 
raised  against  the  members  of  the  Committee  of  Union  and 
Progress  was  that  they  consisted  of  Jews,  atheists,  and 
freemasons.    It  was  a  dangerous  cry,  for  several  reasons. 

Contrary  to  the  belief  which  I  find  exists  in  England,  the 
Jew  is  not  a  general  favourite  with  the  Turks.  I  am  simply 
stating  the  result  of  my  own  experience,  because  I  have  no 
fault  to  find  with  the  Jewish  population  of  Turkey,  whom  I 
have  always  found  as  honest  and  straightforward  as  any 
other  section  of  the  population.  But  among  the  poor  Turks, 
even  more  than  among  those  who  have  a  certain  amount  of 
education,  the  prejudice  against  him  is  very  strong.  The 
old-fashioned  Turkish  Pasha  will  gather  up  his  robe  rather 
than  allow  it  to  be  defiled  by  contact  with  that  of  a  Jew. 
The  element  of  truth  in  that  portion  of  the  accusation 
against  the  Committee  relating  to  Israelites  was  that  in  the 
Committee  certain  men  of  exceptional  intelligence  became 
from  the  first  specially  prominent.  One  amongst  them, 
Jevad  Bey,  shortly  afterwards  appointed  Minister  of 
Finance,  was  a  man  of  financial  abihty  and  possessed  of  a 
great  faculty  for  explaining  what  he  meant.  A  native  of 
Salonica,  he  is  reputed  to  belong  to  a  Cr37pto- Jewish  sect 
largely  represented  in  that  city,  and  known  as  Dunmays, 
which  professes  Moslemism,  but  in  secret  practises  the  rites 
of  the  Jewish  faith.*  But  while  everybody  recognised  the 
ability  of  Jevad,  he  was  probably  the  most  impopular  man 
in  the  Committee. 

Another  Jew,  who  was  almost  equally  prominent,  was 
named  Carasso,  whose  manners  are  charming  and  in  marked 
contrast  to  those  of  Jevad.  He,  I  beUeve,  does  not  profess 
Islam,  but  is  a  Jew  pure  and  simple.  I  have  known  him  for 
several  years,  as  well  as  other  members  of  his  family,  and 
have  great  respect  for  them  all.  I  do  not  know  that  anyone 
in  particular  was  aimed  at  when  the  Committee  was  labelled 
as  consisting  of  atheists,  Jews,  and  freemasons.  Probably 
very  few  of  them  were  addicted  to  saying  their  prayers  at 

*  Readers  who  are  curious  as  to  their  history  will  find  it  fully 
set  out  in  my  Turkey  and  its  People, 


THE  COUNTER  REVOLUTION  259 

the  stated  hours,  and  more  or  less  in  public,  for  it  must  be 
remembered  that  in  connection  with  each  department  of 
the  State  in  Stambul  there  is  a  room  set  apart  for  the  saying 
of  prayers.  I  do  not  think  that  anybody  who  knew  the 
prominent  members  of  the  Committee  would  be  disposed, 
with  notable  exceptions,  to  think  of  them  as  religious  men. 
Certainly  there  was  not  a  fanatic  amongst  them.  But  to 
speak  of  them  as  atheists  is  as  absurd  as  when  the  lowest 
class  of  street  preacher  in  England  applies  that  derogatory 
term  to  anybody  who  dissents  from  any  portion  of  his 
"  ism." 

It  probably  influenced  unfavourably  a  few  of  the  lower 
elements  of  the  population.  Freemasons  used  in  connection 
with  Young  Turkey  never  appeared  to  me  to  have  a  specially 
objectionable  meaning.  As  a  mason  myself,  I  can  assert 
that  very  few  indeed  of  the  Party  were  masons  before  the 
Revolution.  The  fact  which  lent  vividness  to  the  term  as 
revolutionary  was  that  in  the  Italian  Lodge  in  Salonica 
some  members  of  the  Committee  had  been  accepted  and, 
according  to  general  repute,  employed  the  Lodge  as  a  means 
of  keeping  the  movements  of  the  revolutionary  body  from 
the  outside  world.  The  cry  that  the  opponents  of  Abdul 
Hamid  were  freemasons  had  indeed  the  effect  of  causing  a 
great  many  Turks  to  desire  to  become  masons,  and  indeed 
gave  freemasonry  a  lift  in  the  country  such  as  it  had  never 
had  before.  The  Revolution,  however,  would  not  have 
made  much  progress  if  its  supporters  had  been  limited  to 
Jews,  atheists,  and  freemasons.  The  cry  that  the  revolu- 
tionary party  consisted  of  them  was  really  dangerous  only  in 
name.  I  doubt  whether  it  did  the  cause  of  Young  Turkey 
any  harm  whatever,  except  perhaps  among  the  adherents  of 
the  Roman  Catholic  Church. 

The  reactionaries  were  most  powerful  in  Constantinople, 
and  an  undercurrent  of  hostility  to  the  revolutionary 
Government  which  had  been  formed  on  July  24,  1908, 
steadily  increased.  It  was,  however,  very  slow  to  find 
expression.  We  learnt  that  secret  emissaries  were  active  in 
the  navy  and  in  the  barracks,  and  we  were  surprised  that  no 


26o       FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

sign  of  reaction  appeared.  A  writer  in  Blackwood's  Maga- 
zine mentions  that  the  Turkish  Ambassador  in  London  was 
completely  taken  by  surprise  when  he  learned  that  there  was 
any  movement  in  Constantinople  against  the  Committee. 
It  would  seem  that  a  large  number  of  the  spies  had  learned 
their  business  so  completely  that  they  had  produced  a 
considerable  amount  of  disaffection.  But,  as  turned  out  to 
be  the  case,  the  disaffection  was  of  a  foolish  character.  It 
found  vent  on  April  13,  1909.  We  in  Constantinople 
awakened  in  the  morning  to  find  that  the  streets  were  in 
possession  of  the  troops,  that  the  bridges  were  lined  with 
soldiers,  and  that  there  was  afoot  a  revolutionary  move- 
ment of  an  alarming  character.  What  had  happened 
was  that  among  a  great  crowd  of  disaffected  troops  were  a 
certain  number  of  ulema,  men  belonging  to  the  class  in  Islam 
most  nearly  approaching  to  a  priestly  caste,  who  had  spread 
the  notion  among  the  purely  Turkish  population,  but 
especially  among  the  troops,  that  the  changes  introduced 
by  the  Committee  of  Union  and  Progress  were  irreligious  and 
directed  against  the  Sacred  Law  of  the  Sheriat. 

We  learnt  that  severe  fighting  was  going  on  in  Stambul, 
which  the  Eastern  imagination  informed  us  had  led  to  the 
streets  of  that  city  running  with  blood.  One  of  my  hamals 
came  to  my  house  to  inform  me  that  the  bridge  between 
Galata  and  Stambul  was  crowded  with  troops,  and  that 
everybody  was  uncertain  as  to  what  was  going  on.  We  soon 
found  that  there  was  a  revolt  amongst  the  troops,  and  that 
the  cry  amongst  them  was  for  the  Sheriat  or  Sacred  Law. 
The  mob  generally,  consisting  of  soldiers,  flocked  to  the 
great  courtyard  of  St.  Sophia  and  to  the  open  space  between 
it  and  the  meeting-place  of  the  Chamber  of  Deputies,  and 
made  a  noisy  demonstration.  They  were  led  by  hodjas  or 
schoolmasters  and  mollahs,  real  or  false,  and  shouted  for  the 
law  of  the  Sheriat,  for  the  dismissal  of  Ahmed  Riza, 
President  of  the  Chamber,  and  for  the  abolition  of  the 
Committee  of  Union  and  Progress. 

Mahmud  Mukhtar  was  in  command  of  troops  at  the 
Seraskerat  in  Stambul,  and  appeared  to  have  been  practi- 


MAHMUI)    MIIKHTAR    I'ASHA 


THE  COUNTER  REVOLUTION      261 

cally  the  only  officer  in  command  who  remained  loyal  to  the 
Committee.  During  the  day  Nazim  Pasha,  Minister  of 
Justice,  was  assassinated  because  he  refused  to  give  up  his 
revolver  to  a  soldier.  Three  or  four  other  Turkish  notables 
had  also  been  killed.  Messages  were  sent  backwards  and 
forwards  from  the  palace,  but  with  little  result.  No  one 
doubted  that  the  demonstration  was  favoured  by  Abdul 
Hamid.  The  cry  amongst  the  soldiers  and  the  mob  was  that 
religion  was  in  danger.  Abdul  Hamid  sent  word  to  the 
troops  declaring  his  own  respect  for  the  Sheriat  and  promis- 
ing amnesty  to  all  the  mutineer  soldiers.  Firing  went  on 
during  all  the  morning,  but  of  the  silliest  character.  The 
troops  discharged  their  rifles  into  the  air  and  shouted  in 
favour  of  the  Sacred  Law.  The  few  deaths  which  took 
place  were  mostly  accidental. 

By  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  firing  had  ceased.  Here 
I  pause  in  my  narrative  to  mention  two  incidents  of  that  day. 

Mahmud  Mukhtar,  as  already  mentioned,  was  in  command 
at  the  Seraskerat.  The  son  of  the  famous  Mukhtar  who 
resisted  the  Russians  valiantly  in  1877-78  in  Asia  Minor  and 
was  formally  declared  Ghazi,  Mahmud  Mukhtar  had  been 
carefully  trained  as  a  soldier  in  Germany,  and  being  in  com- 
mand of  the  troops  at  the  Seraskerat,  believed  it  his  duty  to 
resist  the  rioters.  Almost  the  only  fighting  which  took 
place  on  the  day  in  question  was  at  the  barracks  under  his 
command.  He  was  prepared  to  resist  the  demonstrators 
and  to  put  down  the  mutiny  with  a  strong  hand,  but  express 
orders  came  from  Abdul  Hamid  at  Yildiz  to  cease  all 
resistance.  His  soul  abhorred  such  a  step.  Either  the 
movement  was  a  treasonable  one  against  His  Majesty,  or 
it  was  one  which  had  the  Sultan's  consent,  and  in  either  case 
ought  to  be  resisted.  He  continued  to  resist  until  he  learnt 
that  orders  had  been  sent  by  the  Sultan  to  capture  him  dead 
or  alive.  Thereupon  he  managed  to  escape  from  the 
barracks,  and  took  a  caique  across  the  Bosporus  to  his  house 
at  Moda  which  adjoins  those  of  the  late  Sir  William 
Whittall  and  of  my  eldest  son. 

My  son,  who  had  arrived  from  Constantinople  about  four 


262       FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

in  the  afternoon,  had  taken  with  him  a  hamal  in  order  that 
he  might  be  sent  as  messenger  if  one  were  needed.  He  had 
not  been  long  at  his  house  when,  walking  in  the  garden  with 
his  wife,  he  saw  a  person  scaling  his  wall  from  the  garden 
which  he  knew  to  belong  to  the  house  of  Mukhtar.  Looking 
round  for  an  explanation,  he  saw  that  a  block  of  three  or  four 
houses  was  being  rapidly  surrounded  by  troops,  and  recog- 
nised that  the  person  who  had  escaped  into  Sir  William 
Whittall's  garden  was  Mahmud  Mukhtar.  My  daughter-in- 
law  observed  that  the  troops  were  spreading  themselves  out 
so  as  to  include  the  three  houses  of  Sir  William  Whittall, 
Mahmud  Mukhtar,  and  my  son.  Meantime  Mukhtar,  who 
had  disappeared  amongst  the  bushes,  shortly  afterwards 
found  his  way  into  Sir  William  Whittall's  house.  He  was 
aware  that  he  was  being  hunted  by  Abdul  Hamid's  orders, 
and  had  provided  himself  with  a  brace  of  revolvers. 

My  son  joined  him  in  Sir  William's  house,  while  Lady 
Whittall  gave  notice  to  the  officer  in  command  of  the  troops, 
who  by  this  time  surrounded  the  house  except  on  the  sea- 
front,  that  the  house  being  British  no  person  could  be 
permitted  to  enter  either  it  or  the  grounds  without  a  consular 
order.  The  officer  at  once  explained  that  his  instructions 
were  to  respect  the  national  character  of  the  houses.  Almost 
immediately  after  the  appearance  of  Mahmud  Mukhtar, 
a  hasty  note  was  written  conveying  information  to  the 
British  and  another  to  the  same  purpose  to  the  German 
Embassy  regarding  the  condition  of  Mahmud  Mukhtar. 
The  notes  were  concealed  by  the  hamal,  but  he  had  orders 
on  arriving  in  Pera  to  convey  them  to  the  two  Embassies. 
Later  Sir  William  arrived  and  was  admitted,  but  orders 
were  given  that  no  other  person  should  be  permitted  to 
enter  or  leave  the  grounds  surrounded  by  the  troops.  There 
was  a  weary  wait  from  about  four  in  the  afternoon,  when 
the  house  was  surrounded,  until  half-past  nine.  Apparently 
Mahmud  Mukhtar's  only  chance  of  safety  lay  in  the  inter- 
ference of  the  English  or  German  Embassies. 

It  is  no  secret  to  say  that  on  receiving  the  news  the 
British  Dragoman  went  at  once  to  the  Minister  of  War, 


THE  COUNTER  REVOLUTION  263 

who  replied  that  he  could  not  interfere  because  the  orders 
in  reference  to  Mahmud  Mukhtar  came  direct  from  His 
Majesty,  and  he  himself  had  only  been  appointed  that  day, 
Then  the  Dragoman  went  to  the  Grand  Vizier,  who  made 
a  similar  excuse.  He  also  could  not,  or  would  not  do 
anything.  Meantime  Mukhtar  and  my  son  were  discussing 
the  situation  and  awaiting  events.  Mukhtar  had  already 
proved  himself  a  brave  soldier,  and  no  one  doubts  that 
rather  than  surrender  he  would  have  laid  many  of  his 
enemies  low  with  his  two  revolvers.  There  I  may  leave 
them  to  mention  what  was  going  on  on  the  other  side  of 
the  Bosporus. 

I  know  from  first  hand  what  went  on  at  Moda.  I  am  not 
quite  so  positive  as  to  what  was  done  in  the  meantime  in 
Constantinople,  but  I  believe  the  following  to  be  a  true 
statement.  Mr.  Fitzmaurice  had  been  to  see  the  Minister 
of  War  and  the  Grand  Vizier,  and  failed  with  both.  Some- 
one drew  up  a  strong  order  directed  to  the  commanding 
officer  on  the  Scutari  side  of  the  Bosporus,  under  whom,  of 
course,  were  the  soldiers,  who  had  surrounded  the  block 
containing  the  three  houses  mentioned.  I  have  heard  the 
contents  of  this  order  read,  and  a  stronger  one  it  would  be 
difficult  to  draw.  It  was  given  as  Sovereign  and  Caliph, 
and  ordered  the  immediate  withdrawal  of  the  troops  and  the 
cessation  of  all  attempts  upon  Mukhtar.  Who  was  charged 
with  obtaining  and  transmitting  the  order  I  have  never 
been  able  to  learn,  but  the  story  as  told  is  romantic. 

The  order  drawn  up  in  Turkish  may  have  been  the 
joint  product  of  the  brains  of  the  First  German  and 
the  First  British  Dragomans.  It  was  then  taken  to  the 
palace  for  signature.  The  messenger  was  informed  that  the 
Sultan  was  in  his  Turkish  bath  and  could  not  be  seen.  The 
answer  was  that  it  was  a  matter  of  life  or  death.  He  was 
conducted  to  the  outside  of  the  bath  and  knocked.  The 
Sultan  demanded  angrily  who  was  disturbing  him.  The 
officer  replied  that  the  matter  was  one  of  life  or  death. 
Thereupon  the  Sultan  opened  the  door,  and  the  officer 
presented  the  decree  ready  for  His  Majesty's  signature. 


264       FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

The  Sultan  peremptorily  refused  to  sign  it.  Then,  upon  the 
reiterated  statement  that  it  was  a  matter  of  life  or  death, 
it  seems  to  have  dawned  upon  the  Sultan  that  it  might 
be  a  matter  of  life  or  death  for  him,  and  after  some  hesitation 
he  signed.  That  done,  the  officer  got  away  from  the  palace 
as  quickly  as  possible,  crossed  the  Bosporus  and  saw  the 
officer  commanding  the  troops.  The  Sultan  a  few  minutes 
afterwards  repented  of  what  he  had  done,  and  immediately 
summoned  his  servants  to  find  the  messenger  and  bring  him 
back.     They  were,  however,  too  late  to  catch  him. 

Mahmud  Mukhtar  and  his  two  guests  were  meantime 
waiting  upon  events.  About  nine  o'clock  they  heard  the 
recall  sounded,  and  their  servants  soon  informed  them  that 
the  troops  were  lining  up,  and,  shortly  afterwards,  that  they 
had  marched  away  to  the  neighbouring  barracks  known  as 
Selimieh,  at  Hyder  Pasha.  One  of  the  servants  of  the 
house,  who  could  be  trusted,  was  sent  outside  to  see  whether 
they  had  really  gone  away,  and  it  was  found  that  they  had 
done  so.  Mahmud  Mukhtar  during  the  night  went  on  board 
a  yacht  anchored  near,  and  on  the  following  morning  I 
observed  from  my  chambers  in  Galata  a  German  launch 
steaming  out  of  the  harbour.  It  had  been  arranged  that  this 
vessel  should  make  its  way  to  the  island  of  Prote,  having 
first  gone  into  Moda  Bay  and  taken  up  a  passenger.  A  fine 
steamer  under  the  German  flag  was  leaving  that  morning, 
and  as  it  passed  near  Prote  a  steam-launch  went  alongside 
it,  a  passenger  ascended  to  the  deck  of  the  liner,  the 
steam-launch  returned  to  Constantinople,  and  on  the  follow 
ing  day  the  finer  arrived  at  the  Piraeus  and  Mahmud  Mukh- 
tar went  ashore,  to  embark  on  the  following  day  for  Salonica, 
where  he  arrived  without  incident.  Let  me  add  to  this  part 
of  the  narrative  that  when  some  weeks  afterwards  I  met 
Shevket  Pasha,  already  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  army, 
Mukhtar  introduced  me  to  the  great  soldier  as  the  "  Father 
of  my  saviour,"  a  phrase  which  struck  me  as  having  in 
French  a  somewhat  irreverent  sound. 

All  the  events  which  I  have  been  narrating  centred  round 
April  13,  but  the  day  closed  with  another  which  I  must 


THE  COUNTER  REVOLUTION  265 

mention.  My  wife  and  my  daughter  and  I  had  received  an 
invitation  to  spend  an  evening  at  the  British  Embassy,  but 
as  my  wife  was  not  well  I  preferred  to  remain  at  home  with 
her.  My  daughter,  knowing  that  there  was  to  be  a  ball  after 
dinner,  took  a  different  view,  but  being  chaperoned  by  a 
friend,  went  to  the  Embassy.  At  about  eleven  o'clock  I  was 
working  in  my  library  when  a  servant  came  in  and  asked  did 
I  know  that  war  was  going  on.  "  No,  I  have  heard  nothing." 
"  If  I  open  the  shutters  you  will  hear  the  rattle  of  rifle-balls 
all  round."  I  ran  in  all  haste  up  to  the  terrace  of  our  house, 
and  sure  enough,  heard  the  rattle  of  hundreds  or  perhaps 
thousands  of  rifle-balls.  It  turned  out  to  be  only  the 
amusement  of  the  troops,  who  were  firing  aimlessly  and 
making  a  demonstration.  But  I  became  anxious  for  the 
safety  of  my  daughter  and  her  friends.  It  was  a  beautiful 
moonlight  night,  and  from  my  terrace  I  commanded  three 
or  four  streets,  and  found  that  they  were  absolutely  empty. 
As  I  was  on  the  point  of  starting  for  the  Embassy,  distant 
about  half  a  mile,  a  carriage  stopped  at  my  door  and 
her  kindly  chaperones  deposited  her.  Sir  Gerard  and 
Lady  Lowther,  with  the  aid  of  the  secretaries,  had  received 
news  of  the  firing  and  behaved  admirably.  They  quietly 
arranged  that  people  should  go  away  as  speedily  as  they 
could  without  creating  alarm,  and  succeeded  thus  in 
emptying  their  house  of  visitors. 

It  was  not  until  two  or  three  days  afterwards  that  we 
learnt  the  sequence  of  the  incidents  of  the  famous  13th 
of  April.  The  great  note  of  the  day  for  all  Europeans 
was  one  of  uncertainty.  It  was  so  then,  and  even  to  the 
present  remains  so,  for  I  am  convinced  that  no  one  knows 
the  full  truth  regarding  the  events  of  what  was  a  notable 
day  in  the  history  of  Turkey.  What  is  certain  is  this  : 
that  in  the  early  morning  a  large  number  of  marines  from 
the  arsenal,  and  of  troops  stationed  in  several  of  the  barracks 
in  Stambul,  mutinied.  Why  they  mutinied  is  not  even  yet 
clear.  It  is  also  beyond  doubt  that  many  of  their  officers 
were  ill-treated,  imprisoned,  and  in  some  cases  killed. 
Afterwards  the  great  courtyard   of  St.   Sophia   and   the 


266       FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

open  space  on  its  south  side,  which  is  faced  in  another 
direction  by  the  then  meeting-place  of  the  Chamber  of 
Deputies,  were  soon  filled  with  Turkish  soldiers.  There 
they  were  soon  joined  by  many  mollahs  and  hodjas,  some  of 
whom  were  subsequently  found  to  be  Abdul's  agents 
disguised.  They  wore  the  white  turban  and  thus  passed  as 
saraclis.  These  persons  evidently  had  been  instructed  to 
make  definite  demands,  the  most  important  of  which  were 
the  estabUshment  of  the  Sacred  Law  or  Sheriat,  and  the 
destruction  of  the  Committee. 

On  the  13th  and  14th  probably  five  hundred  persons  were 
wounded,  and  apart  from  those  who  were  killed  in  fair  fight, 
defending  under  Mahmud  Mukhtar's  guidance  the  Seraskerat 
barracks,  there  were  probably  between  two  and  three  hun- 
dred persons  killed  through  the  reckless  discharge  of  ammu- 
nition. Soldiers  crowding  the  local  steamers  at  the  Galata 
bridge  took  it  into  their  heads  to  fire  off  their  remaining 
cartridges  into  the  air. 

Meantime  people  were  asking  what  was  the  meaning  of  the 
movement  ?  A  change  of  Grand  Vizier  was  the  traditional 
reply  to  a  popular  Turkish  demonstration,  and  accordingly 
Tewfik  Pasha,  who  had  been  Ambassador  to  London,  was 
appointed  with  Ministers  under  him.  As  he  rode  in  custom- 
ary fashion  from  the  Sublime  Porte  in  Stambul  to  the  palace 
at  Yildiz,  about  three  miles  away,  the  troops  lining  the 
streets  kept  up  a  constant  jeu  de  joie. 

The  demonstration  was  a  bolt  from  the  blue.  Nobody 
had  expected  anything  of  the  kind.  It  was  so  sudden, 
however,  that  the  leaders  of  the  Committee  fled  to  ground. 
Ahmed  Riza,  President  of  the  Chamber,  Jahid,  a  man  of 
violence  but  also  of  great  sincerity  and  honesty,  who  edited 
the  semi-official  organ  of  C.U.P.,  had  also  to  go  into  hiding. 
Indeed,  I  cannot  recall  any  single  member  of  the  Committee 
who  did  not  for  the  moment  disappear.  The  mob,  which  later 
in  the  day  consisted  not  merely  of  the  troops,  mostly  without 
officers,  but  also  of  a  number  of  civilians,  amused  itself  by 
destroying  the  offices  of  the  two  leading  newspapers  acting  as 
organs  of  the  Committee, and  of  wrecking  the  committee-room. 


THE  COUNTER  REVOLUTION      267 

To  a  certain  extent  the  demonstration  of  April  13  was 
remarkably  well  managed.  It  was  apparently  spontaneous, 
and  for  the  most  part  made  by  the  soldiers  without  the 
intervention  of  their  officers.  The  troops  marched  as 
regularly  as  if  their  usual  officers  were  at  their  head.  They 
kept  good  order  among  themselves  and  towards  spectators. 
To  me  they  looked  so  happy  as  to  suggest  that  they  treated 
the  whole  matter  as  a  huge  joke.  I  was  personally  a  witness 
of  the  care  taken  to  inform  civilians  that  they  had  nothing  to 
fear.  Indeed,  for  several  days  afterwards  the  city  was  full 
of  stories  of  the  kindness  of  the  troops  to  spectators.  A 
poor  dressmaker,  finding  herself  in  the  midst  of  the  soldiers, 
was  half  frightened  out  of  her  wits,  but  she  was  taken  charge 
of  by  a  white-haired  old  Turkish  officer  and  led  by  him 
through  the  crowd  until  she  could  be  put  into  a  tram  which 
would  take  her  home. 

The  troops  were  armed  with  fixed  bayonets  and  ball 
cartridges,  and  stood  for  many  hours  with  nothing  to  eat. 
Provision  shops  were  at  hand,  but  not  a  single  case  of 
looting  took  place.  Even  when  by  the  orders  of  some  of 
their  leaders  they  destroyed  the  offices  of  the  newspapers,  and 
especially  of  the  obnoxious  Tanin,  which  was  the  favoured 
organ  of  the  Committee  of  Union  and  Progress,  while  they 
smashed  the  furniture  it  was  not  alleged  that  they  had 
looted  anything.  Although  there  was  a  curious  and 
inexplicable  discharge  of  hundreds  of  bullets,  I  doubt 
whether  anybody  was  intentionally  killed.  Many  bullets 
fell  upon  the  roofs  of  our  houses.  I  gathered  two  which  had 
fallen  upon  my  terrace.  I  believe  the  simplest  explanation 
is  that  the  troops  looked  upon  this  demonstration  against  the 
Committee  of  Union  and  Progress  as  the  great  occasion  for  a 
holiday,  and  the  discharge  of  firearms  is  the  usual  Eastern 
method  of  celebrating  a  hoHday.  April  13  fell  upon  Easter 
Tuesday,  old  style,  and  while  Eastern  Christians  had  been 
celebrating  the  great  feast  by  furious  discharge  of  pistols 
on  the  Sunday  and  Monday,  the  Turkish  soldier  seemed  to 
feel  that  on  Tuesday  was  his  chance  of  the  same  kind  of 
amusement. 


268       FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

I  suppose  that  the  correct  description  of  what  happened 
on  the  Tuesday  would  be  a  miUtary  mutiny.  It  was  even  a 
greater  surprise  to  the  majority  of  the  population  of  the 
capital  than  had  been  the  Revolution  in  July  of  the  previous 
year.  Rifaat  Pasha,  who  had  been  Ambassador  in  London, 
and  before  reaching  Constantinople  had  visited  the  courts 
of  each  of  the  great  European  Powers,  could  only  describe 
the  event  as  "  a  bomb."  On  the  Tuesday  evening  it  was 
stated  that  neither  he  nor  any  other  member  of  the  cabinet 
then  in  power  under  Hilmi  had  in  the  least  suspected  any 
movement  by  the  troops.  The  army  had  been  demoralised 
by  the  Revolution.  Politics  were  discussed  with  as  much 
freedom  in  the  barrack-room  as  they  were  outside,  and  while 
a  majority  of  the  troops  had  been  ardent  supporters  of  the 
Committee,  there  was  an  active  minority  who  looked  askance 
at  it  and  wished  to  get  back  to  the  absolutism  of  Abdul 
Hamid. 

Nazim  Pasha,  the  Minister  of  War  under  Kiamil,  deserves 
notice.  He  had  checked  the  discussion  of  politics  in  the 
troops  under  his  command  and  was  bent  on  reforming  the 
discipline  of  the  army.  Things  had  got  very  bad  when  he 
took  charge  of  the  War  Department.  Men  had  to  be  coaxed 
to  go  to  drill,  and  behaved  disrespectfully  to  their  officers. 
He  had  the  confidence  of  the  Committee  and  the  nation. 

The  incident  of  his  return  to  Constantinople  is  worth  telling. 
He  was  a  soldier  who  had  studied  at  Saint  Cyr,  and  appar- 
ently looked  upon  all  political  questions  from  a  military  point 
of  view.  But  on  account  of  his  independence  he  had  fallen 
under  the  displeasure  of  Abdul  Hamid,  who  had  kept  him  in 
prison  for  seven  years  in  Erzinghian,  in  the  remote  Eastern 
portion  of  the  empire,  as  a  political  suspect.  During  five  of 
those  years  he  had  been  confined  to  a  room  about  ten  feet 
square.  The  idea  of  Abdul  Hamid  or  of  someone  else  was  to 
get  rid  of  him.  His  gaoler  is  stated  to  have  ostentatiously 
left  a  loaded  revolver  upon  his  table,  but  Nazim  had  too 
much  confidence  in  his  future  to  commit  suicide. 

In  June,  a  month  preceding  the  Revolution,  he  escaped 


NAZIM    PASHA 


THE  COUNTER  REVOLUTION      269 

from  prison,  and  made  his  way  mostly  on  foot  and  in  various 
disguises  to  Batoum.  When  he  reached  that  place  he 
heard  the  great  news  that  revolution  had  broken  out  in 
Constantinople.  He  was  without  money,  but  he  applied, 
as  so  many  hundreds  of  political  refugees  have  done,  to  an 
Englishman  in  Batoum  who  knew  and  cared  nothing  about 
politics,  but  believed  the  tale  told  him,  and  furnished  a  good 
round  sum  of  money  to  pay  for  telegrams  to  Constantinople 
and  for  his  passage  thither.  His  escape  was  hailed  with 
pleasure  by  the  Committee,  and  on  his  arrival  in  the  Bosporus 
he  was  welcomed  both  by  its  members  and  the  army  in 
general.  When  Kiamil  ceased  to  be  Grand  Vizier  the 
Committee  objected  to  Nazim  continuing  in  office  as  War 
Minister  because  of  his  appointment  by  Kiamil.  It  was  one 
of  the  first  of  the  blunders  made  by  the  Committee.  Nazim 
was  rapidly  improving  the  discipline  in  the  army,  and  on  his 
dismissal  the  old  laxity  of  discipline  returned.  The  soldier 
translated  the  word  "  hurriet  "  as  according  him  liberty  to 
obey  or  disobey  as  he  liked,  and  the  demonstration  of  April 
13  was  largely  the  result  of  this  laxity. 

There  were  other  contributory  causes  to  the  demonstration 
against  the  Constitution.  The  general  cry  was  that  the 
Committee  had  done  nothing.  It  is  true  that  the  wretched 
passport  system  had  been  abolished  and  that  the  army  of 
spies  had  been  disbanded.  But  there  was  an  impatience  for 
results  which,  though  natural,  was  not  justifiable.  The 
Moslem  populace  was  under  the  belief  that  the  fiat  of  the 
Government  could  at  once  remedy  all  evils.  The  financial 
difficulty  was  severe.  The  Law  Courts  were  as  corrupt  as 
ever.  The  hideous  murder  of  a  Christian  at  Beshisktash 
did  much  to  irritate  the  Christian  population.  A  Greek  was 
accused  of  improper  conduct  to  a  Turkish  woman.  The 
house  where  he  had  taken  refuge  was  surrounded  and  the 
man  was  brutally  killed  without  any  attempt  on  the  part  of 
the  Moslem  police  to  protect  him  so  that  his  case  might  be 
brought  before  a  legal  tribunal.  I  saw  the  mad  excitement 
of  the  mob,  and  can  only  qualify  its  action  as  a  clear  case  of 


270       FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

lynching,  which  would  not  have  happened  if  the  accused 
person  had  been  a  Moslem.  I  said  as  much  at  the  time  to 
one  of  the  Turkish  Ministers.  The  reply  was  that  I  was 
quite  right,  but  that  "  just  as  Americans  could  not  keep 
cool  when  a  similar  charge  was  brought  against  a  negro,  so 
Moslems  could  not  and  would  not  stand  the  slightest  inter- 
ference with  their  women.  It  was  race  prejudice,  and  there 
was  an  end  of  it." 

It  is  also  fair  to  say  that  in  the  interval  between  July  and 
April  13  the  Committee  had  not  yet  gathered  sufficient 
strength  to  do  what  it  liked.  It  gave  orders  which  it  could 
not  carry  out.  For  example,  a  line  of  steamers  known  as 
the  Mahsusie,  belonging  to  the  Government,  and  running 
between  Stambul  and  the  Princes'  Islands,  was  generally 
recognised  at  the  time  of  the  Revolution  as  being  under 
wretched  management.  The  Committee  determined  to 
change  this,  and  the  wretched  steamers  were  to  be  replaced 
by  others  belonging  to  a  local  company.  But  the  employes 
of  the  Mahsusie  simply  said,  "  We  shall  run  the  steamers,  no 
matter  what  you  say."  And  they  kept  their  word.  From 
the  same  wharf,  and  at  the  same  time,  two  boats  started  for 
the  same  places,  one  chartered  by  the  Government,  the  other 
belonging  to  the  Government  and  running  against  its  orders. 
The  Committee  dared  not  employ  force  against  its  own  men. 

The  porters  of  Constantinople  belong  to  a  guild  or  esnaf, 
and  had  a  monopoly  for  the  loading  and  discharging  of  ships, 
the  price  being  fixed  by  the  esnaf.  Some  of  the  stories  told 
of  the  absolute  power  exercised  by  the  porters  had  their 
ludicrous  side.  Seated  on  a  pile  of  merchandise  upon  a 
lighter,  the  chief  of  the  esnaf,  a  great  burly  fellow  in  the 
ordinary  dress  of  a  coal-heaver,  sat  as  a  Lord  Chancellor 
may  have  sat  five  hundred  years  ago  on  his  woolsack. 
No  Lord  Chancellor  ever  known  to  me  could  possibly  have 
advanced  his  decisions  in  a  more  lordly,  dogmatic,  un- 
appealable way  than  did  this  chairman  of  the  guild  of 
porters.  The  price  to  be  paid  for  the  discharge  of  such  a  ship 
was  so  much.  If  any  objection  were  raised  the  answer  was, 
"  Discharge  will  not  take  place  at  anything  less,"  and  from 


THE  COUNTER  REVOLUTION  271 

that  decision  there  was  no  appeal.  The  members  of  the 
Committee  of  Union  and  Progress,  all  comparatively 
educated  men,  saw  the  disorganisation  of  commerce  which 
the  monopoly  of  the  es«a/ produced,  and  recognised  especially 
that  it  brought  down  upon  them  the  hostility  of  every 
Embassy  whose  subjects  were  annoyed  and  injured  by  the 
detention  of  ships  and  the  refusal  to  allow  their  cargo  to  be 
discharged.  Ultimately  the  Committee  found  it  necessary 
greatly  to  weaken  the  power  of  the  esnaf,  and  to  yield  to  the 
representations  of  the  Powers  that  merchants  should  be 
allowed  in  certain  eventualities  to  employ  other  porters 
than  those  who  belonged  to  the  guild. 

But  that  result  had  not  been  obtained  on  April  13,  1909. 
The  truth  was  that  divisions  in  the  Committee  had  already 
arisen.  A  section  of  its  members  were  conveniently  called 
"  nationalists."  Their  avowed  desire  was  to  abolish  all  legal 
distinctions  between  all  members  of  the  Turkish  or  Osmanli 
community,  that  is,  between  all  subjects  of  the  Sultan. 
They  wished  to  make  of  these  subjects  a  nation  which  should 
be  one  in  language.  The  immediate  object  which  they 
appeared  to  have  in  view  was  to  Turkify  everything.  Now 
through  all  time  the  peoples  of  Asia  Minor  have  been  at  least 
bi-lingual,  and  until  the  Revolution  its  pubUc  notices  and 
even  shop  advertisements  were  usually  printed  in  four 
languages — ^Turkish,  Greek,  Armenian,  and  French.  The 
names  of  the  streets  were  printed  in  Turkish  and  French. 
The  notices  for  the  payment  of  taxes  were  in  Turkish,  but 
usually  with  an  explanation  in  one  or  two  other  languages. 
The  Committee  determined  to  change  all  this,  and  would  have 
no  language  but  Turkish.  It  should  be  the  language  of  the 
school,  and  at  first  some  of  the  members  even  proposed  that 
no  other  language  but  Turkish  should  be  taught.  Finally  this 
decision  was  modified  into  the  requirement  that  the  study  of 
Turkish  should  be  compulsory  in  every  school.  The  names 
of  the  streets  were  ordered  to  be  put  up  only  in  Turkish 
characters. 

I  think  it  may  fairly  be  said  that  in  most  cities  in  Turkey 
not  one-twentieth  part  of  the  population  can  read  Turkish. 


272  FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 
The  regulation,  therefore,  was  recognised  as  inconvenient. 
My  summer  residence  has  been  for  upwards  of  thirty  years 
in  the  island  of  Prinkipo,  about  ten  miles  from  the  capital. 
Excluding  foreigners,  at  least  nine-tenths  of  the  inhabitants 
are  Greeks,  and  out  of  such  nine-tenths  I  doubt  whether  one 
person  in  twenty  can  read  Turkish  letters.  Hitherto  the 
names  had  been  put  up  either  in  Greek  or  in  Roman  char- 
acters. We  could  all  read  them,  and  of  course  no  one 
would  have  objected  to  putting  them  up  also  in  Turkish. 
But  in  the  new-bom  zeal  of  fanatics  for  nationalisation,  the 
old  signboards  must  be  pulled  down  and  the  names  printed 
up  only  in  Turkish  characters. 

It  is  curious  to  note  that  the  same  narrowness  in  attempt- 
ing to  force  the  language  of  the  ruling  race  on  others  exists 
in  Hungary.  Ask  a  question  in  German  of  a  person  in  the 
streets  of  Buda-Pesth  and  no  reply  will  be  given,  though  the 
person  questioned  knows  German.  Ask  it  in  French  and 
probably  a  polite  reply  will  be  given.  The  names  of  the 
streets  there  also  are  only  written  in  Magyar. 

The  pettifogging  tyranny  of  the  National  Party  would  have 
been  tolerated  if  it  confined  itself  to  matters  like  insisting 
upon  Turkish  in  schools  and  the  change  of  names.  But 
Kiamil  Pasha  was  far  too  moderate  in  his  aims  to  please 
the  nationalist  section,  and  accordingly  they  commenced 
a  series  of  attacks  upon  him  in  the  Chamber  of  Deputies, 
openly  stating  that  the  Grand  Vizier  whom  they  wanted  was 
one  who  should  be  their  nominee,  and  do  only  what  the 
Committee  directed.  When  a  carefully-planned  attack  in 
the  Chamber  was  launched  against  Kiamil,  Ahmed  Riza, 
the  President  of  the  Chamber,  who  had  hitherto  leaned 
towards  the  Moderate  Party,  made  a  volte  face.  On  that  day 
he  allowed  the  reading  of  a  declaration  from  a  large  body  of 
naval  officers  who  stated  that  they  would  refuse  to  obey  the 
newly  appointed  Minister  of  Marine. 

A  few  days  later  it  was  currently  reported  that  the  officers 
of  the  fleet  claimed  to  elect  their  own  Minister  of  Marine. 
Kiamil,  already  upwards  of  eighty  years  of  age,  was 
driven   out   of  office   by   the   Nationalist  Party  of    the 


THE  COUNTER  REVOLUTION  273 

Committee.  When  he  retired,  Jemal-eddin,  the  enhghtened 
Sheik-ul-Islam,  resigned.  The  dominant  section  of  the 
Committee  begged  him  to  remain  in  office  and  Hilmi  Pasha 
joined  in  the  request,  but  the  Sheik-ul-Islam  refused.  From 
what  I  had  seen  of  him  on  various  occasions  I  concluded  that 
he  was  an  able,  thoughtful,  essentially  liberal-minded  Maho- 
metan ;  that  not  only  did  he  believe  that  Islam  owed  its 
great  successes  to  its  doing  justice  to  the  Christians  who  were 
subdued,  but  that  he  honestly  believed  that  it  was  the  duty 
of  Moslems  to  treat  Christians  as  brethren.  I  do  not 
pretend  that  this  view  is  generally  taken  by  the  leaders  of 
Moslem  thought,  but  that  it  is  adopted  by  some  of  the  most 
learned  and  thoughtful  among  them  is,  I  am  sure,  quite  true. 

But  Jemal-eddin  was  a  scholar,  a  student,  and  an  old  man, 
and  I  think  probably  his  resignation  was  due  to  the  fact  that 
he  could  not  allow  his  name  to  be  associated  with  the 
intolerance  that  was  marking  the  Nationalist  Party  in 
reference  to  language,  or  with  any  system  involving  the 
wrangle  of  political  parties.  I  wrote  of  him  in  the  month  of 
May,  1909,  that  on  each  of  the  occasions  when  I  had  seen  him 
I  "  was  struck  by  his  intelligence,  reasonableness,  and 
liberality  in  reference  to  the  relations  between  Moslems  and 
non-Moslems,  and  in  his  firm  belief  in  the  duty  to  establish 
constitutional  government." 

Before  the  outbreak  on  April  13  it  became  evident  that  a 
portion  of  the  ulema  was  dissatisfied  with  the  action  of  the 
Committee.  There  had  been  wild  and  unreasonable  talk 
even  about  religious  liberty  and  equality,  and  this  naturally 
offended  the  average  Mahometan,  whose  traditions  led  him 
to  look  with  suspicion  upon  the  teaching  and  conduct  of 
Christians.  Two  or  three  weeks  before  the  demonstration 
of  the  13th,  the  Mahometan  League  was  formed.  It  held 
its  first  great  meeting  in  St.  Sophia.  The  Moderate  Party 
was  sufficiently  numerous  to  prevent  any  serious  declarations 
by  the  Nationalist  Party,  and  the  general  Moslem  opinion 
was  strongly  in  favour  of  the  Constitution.  But  in  a  sermon 
preached  on  the  eve  of  the  day  of  the  revolt,  by  a  too-zealous 
hodja  in  the  Sultana  VaUda  mosque,  the  preacher  denounced 

T 


274       FORTY  YEARS   IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

the  idea  of  liberty  and  equality,  which,  as  he  declared,  had 
been  promulgated  in  the  streets  and  in  the  Chamber.  But 
the  congregation,  as  I  was  told  by  one  who  had  been  present, 
shewed  their  hostiUty  to  the  hodja's  opinion  very  un- 
mistakably. The  organ  of  the  League  already  mentioned 
declared  that  "  to  plot  against  the  Constitution  would  be 
treason  to  Islam,"  and  invoked  the  curse  of  heaven  upon  all 
such  traitors. 

The  truth  was  that  the  Nationalist  section  had  managed  to 
alienate  large  portions  of  the  community.  Some  of  that 
section  proposed  the  abrogation  of  the  privileges  which  the 
Christian  Churches  have  enjoyed  for  four  centuries  and  a 
half.  I  regret  to  say  that  up  to  the  present  moment  the 
alienation  between  the  Young  Turks  and  both  the  Greek  and 
Armenian  section  continues.  Other  members  suggested 
that  the  capitulations  under  which  Europeans  have  lived 
since  the  Middle  Ages  should  be  abolished.  This  suggestion 
was  not  put  forward  in  a  formal  manner  until,  I  believe,  1914, 
when,  owing  to  the  profound  ignorance  among  most  people 
connected  with  the  British  Embassy  in  Constantinople  and 
the  department  of  the  Foreign  Office  which  deals  with  it, 
a  weak,  though  partial,  assent  was  given  to  it.  Later  on, 
after  the  great  European  War  was  declared,  the  Turkish 
Government,  still  under  the  Committee  of  Union  and  Pro- 
gress, formally  declared  the  capitulations  aboUshed.  Of 
course,  as  they  are  treaties  signed  between  Turkey  and 
other  European  Powers,  the  declaration  of  one  party  cannot 
put  an  end  to  them. 

Before  April  13,  1909,  the  Committee  had  come  to 
attribute  to  itself  the  right  to  appoint  and  to  dismiss 
Ministers.  Under  the  violent  partisanship  of  Ahmed 
Riza,  whose  great  suavity  of  manner  could  not  conceal  from 
the  public  his  determination  to  support  the  Committee 
through  thick  and  thin,  the  reputation  of  the  Committee 
and  of  the  Chamber  diminished  greatly.  The  week  before 
the  13th,  namely,  on  the  7th,  a  certain  Hassan  Fehmi, 
editor  of  a  Turkish  newspaper  called  the  Sebesti,  was 
murdered.    Two  other  persons  had  been  murdered  in  the 


THE:[C0UNTER  revolution  275 

streets  of  Stambul  some  weeks  earlier,  both  connected  with 
journals  opposed  to  the  Committee ;  but  as  the  two  were 
supposed  to  be  spies,  their  death  attracted  httle  attention. 
It  was  different,  however,  with  Fehmi.  The  one  charge 
alleged  against  him  was  that  his  paper  had  opposed  the 
Nationalist  section.  Rightly  or  wrongly,  the  impression  got 
abroad  that  all  these  three  murders  had  been  done  at  the 
instigation  of  the  Committee.  Popular  judgment  asked 
whether  the  country  was  to  be  under  a  regime  of  assassina- 
tion conducted  by  an  anonymous  court.  The  murder  was 
not  only  a  crime,  but  if  perpetrated  by  the  Committee's  orders 
a  blunder  of  the  worst  kind. 

Now  let  me  briefly  relate  what  went  on  in  Salonica  on  the 
same  April  13.  The  demonstration  in  the  capital  was  a 
surprise  to  the  members  of  the  Committee  in  that  city. 
Some  persons  in  favour  of  the  movement  had  obtained 
possession  of  the  telegraph  office,  and  it  was  not  until  the 
evening  that  the  city  was  startled  with  the  news  of  what 
had  gone  on.  The  long  and  short  of  the  news  was  that  the 
capital  was  in  possession  of  the  reactionaries.  Thereupon 
the  Committee  held  a  meeting  at  which  nearly  every  member 
in  Salonica  was  present.  The  great  doubt  amongst  its 
members  was  how  the  army  stationed  in  Macedonia  and 
under  the  command  of  Shevket  Pasha  would  act.  Mahmud 
Shevket  was  called,  and  in  simple,  soldier-like  fashion  told 
the  Committee  that  he  had  sworn  to  defend  the  Constitution 
and  would  respect  his  oath.  He  was  wisely  trusted,  and 
immediately  prepared  to  march  upon  the  capital.  After 
two  days  he  was  joined  by  Mukhtar  Pasha,  who  after  his 
escape  had  gone  by  steamer  to  Athens  and  then  doubled  back 
to  Salonica  in  order  to  return  to  Constantinople. 

Members  of  the  Committee  who  had  gone  into  hiding 
gradually  came  forward,  and  most  of  them  appeared  at 
San  Stefano,  ten  miles  from  the  city.  Their  number 
increased  daily,  and  we  in  the  city  heard  regularly  of  new 
men  coming  from  their  hiding-places.  We  heard  also  vague 
rumours  of  measures  taken  by  the  reactionary  party  to 


276       FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

oppose  the  army  from  Salonica,  which  we  already  knew  had 
commenced  its  march.  One  of  the  most  persistent  of  these 
rumours  was  that  the  army  division  in  Adrianople  would 
oppose  the  march  to  the  city.  Soon  we  learnt  that  the  men 
of  that  division  had  joined  what  we  may  call  the  Army  of 
Deliverers. 

The  days  between  the  14th  and  the  23rd  were  full  of 
disquietude  and  alarm.  We  could  not  believe  that  the 
demonstration  of  the  13th  was  a  mere  idle  spectacle,  and 
that  the  number  of  troops  in  the  city,  certainly  not  less 
than  40,000,  possessed  of  cannon  and  otherwise  well  armed, 
would  permit  the  entry  of  the  Deliverers  without  a  struggle. 
During  these  days  a  number  of  troops  under  officers 
in  favour  of  the  Committee  assembled  at  San  Stefano 
and  gave  their  protection  to  what  was  spoken  of  as  the 
National  Assembly,  consisting  of  members  of  the  Senate 
and  of  the  Chamber  of  Deputies.  The  Assembly  published 
a  proclamation  by  Mahmud  Shevket,  promising  protection 
to  all  law-abiding  citizens  and  threatening  punishment  to  the 
mutineers.  The  situation  was  a  curious  one.  Persons  were 
allowed  to  go  without  let  or  hindrance  to  San  Stefano,  and 
we  learned  that  gradually  a  large  semi-circle  of  troops  was 
being  formed  around  the  city,  stretching  from  San  Stefano 
as  far  as  Ortakewi,  thus,  including  the  sea,  girdUng  all 
Stambul,  Pera,  Galata,  Yildiz,  and  the  several  barracks 
around  it.  We  all  anticipated  something  very  unusual,  but 
especially  a  struggle  between  the  troops  that  had  made  the 
demonstration  and  those  under  Shevket. 

On  the  Friday  night  a  bold  movement  was  made  by  the 
Deliverers.  I  first  learned  of  it  from  a  trustworthy  hamal  in 
my  service,  an  old  Turk  whom  at  any  time  I  would  have 
entrusted  with  my  life.  At  six  o'clock  on  Saturday 
morning  he  came  to  Pera  to  inform  me  that  there  was  no 
cause  for  anxiety,  because  the  authorities  had  given  the 
strictest  orders  that  no  person  whatever,  Moslem  or  Christian, 
was  to  be  molested,  but  that  the  city  was  in  the  hands  of 
soldiers.  After  a  hasty  breakfast  I  went  out  to  see  what  I 
could.    A  great  road  passes  my  house,  along  which  foot 


THE  COUNTER  REVOLUTION  277 

passengers  were  free  to  go  in  either  direction,  but  at  every 
street  corner  which  led  from  it  two  sentries  were  stationed 
with  fixed  bayonets,  with  instructions  to  let  no  person 
enter  or  go  out  without  a  pass  from  the  officers.  I  directed 
my  course  down  to  my  chambers  along  the  road  followed  by 
the  tramway.  When  I  wished  to  pass  from  it  into  the  street 
where  my  chambers  are  situated,  "  Yasak  "  was  at  once 
pronounced.  Happily,  in  a  few  minutes  an  officer  passed 
who  knew  me  and  guaranteed  that  I  was  not  a  revolutionary. 
At  the  back  of  my  house  is  a  Turkish  cemetery,  and  near  it 
were  stationed  two  Greeks,  volunteers  in  the  Deliverers' 
army.  We  gave  them  coffee,  which  was  very  welcome,  and 
finding  them  in  high  spirits  and  ready  to  talk,  they  explained 
how  they  and  their  companions  had  been  told  off  in  different 
directions  for  picketing  Stambul,  Galata,  and  Pera. 

I  may  mention  an  incident  here  which  I  must  ever 
associate  with  this  day.  Miss  Alice  Gardiner,  of  Newnham 
College,  Cambridge,  had  been  during  the  previous  week  or 
ten  days  an  almost  daily  visitor  at  our  house,  and  was  always 
warmly  welcomed  by  my  wife  and  daughter.  She  had 
brought  with  her  a  younger  lady  who  I  believe  also  occupied 
some  position  in  Newnham,  who  had  delighted  us  all  by  the 
keenness  of  interest  which  she  took  in  the  archaeology  of 
the  city.  When  she  came  she  looked  the  picture  of  health, 
but  unfortunately  she  caught  some  kind  of  fever,  I  believe, 
and  was  wisely  taken  to  be  nursed  in  our  excellent  British 
hospital  under  the  charge  of  Dr.  McLean.  Her  illness  had 
become  very  grave  on  the  Wednesday  and  Thursday,  and 
Miss  Gardiner  had  spent  nearly  all  her  time  in  attendance 
upon  her,  coming,  however,  to  our  house  for  tea  and  to  report 
upon  her  condition.  We  were  anxious  to  learn  how  she  was 
on  the  Saturday  morning,  and  I  succeeded,  after  considerable 
difiiculty,  in  visiting  her  hotel.  We  then  learned  from  Miss 
Gardiner  that  her  charge  had  passed  away  at  dawn,  that 
she  had  been  with  her  until  the  end,  and  then,  on  leaving  the 
hospital  to  go  to  her  hotel,  had  been  stopped  by  Turkish 
soldiers.  Happily  the  officer  spoke  a  little  French,  and  she 
was  able  to  explain  why  she  was  out  in  the  streets  at  that 


278       FORTY   YEARS   IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

time.  He  treated  her  with  kindness,  but  urged  her  to  go  at 
once  to  the  hotel,  remarking  that  this  was  not  a  time  when 
civiHans  should  be  in  the  streets. 

In  the  meantime  the  air  was  full  of  rumours  which 
informed  us  that  the  encircling  ring  was  gradually  drawing 
nearer  and  nearer.  Besides  large  numbers  of  disaffected 
troops  in  the  town,  a  regiment  in  the  Selimieh  barracks  at 
Scutari  was  said  to  be  determined  to  resist  the  Deliverers, 
and,  if  need  be,  to  fire  across  the  Bosporus  upon  Pera.  All 
traffic  by  water  was  suspended.  No  caique  even  was  permitted 
to  ply  without  an  express  police  pass.  Meantime,  the  troops 
during  the  night  pressed  nearer  towards  Yildiz  and  the  bar- 
racks in  its  neighbourhood,  the  two  most  important  of  which 
are  the  Tashkisla,  and  the  Artillery  Barracks  at  the  Taxim. 
There  are  also  smaller  ones  around  the  Sultan's  palace  atYildiz. 
At  dawn  the  Salonica  army  entered  Shishli,  only  about  a  mile 
distant  from  the  public  garden  of  the  Taxim.  We  in  Pera 
heard  the  sound  of  firing,  which  to  unaccustomed  ears  did 
not  sound  different  from  that  which  we  had  heard  during 
any  of  the  preceding  days.  Meantime,  artillery,  infantry, 
and  cavalry  were  advancing  to  take  possession  of  strong 
positions.  The  Deliverers  were  in  full  marching  order  and 
made  short  work  of  any  opposition.  They  were  permitted 
to  pass  the  Military  School,  the  Tashkisla  and  Artillery 
Barracks,  with  little  opposition.  But  a  stand  was  made  at 
the  end  of  Pera  High  Street.  A  great  deal  of  desultory  firing 
took  place,  a  few  were  killed,  several  wounded.  Amongst 
the  men  who  were  wounded  was  Mr.  Moore,  a  well-known 
newspaper  correspondent.  We  were  all  astonished  at  the 
small  amount  of  opposition  which  the  Deliverers  encountered. 
It  is  true  that  many  houses  where  the  contest  was  keenest 
were  marked  with  bullet  holes,  but  not  many  people  were 
injured.  By  noon  we  all  believed  that  Pera  was  in  the 
hands  of  the  Deliverers. 

We  learned  afterwards  that  a  regiment  of  soldiers  which 
had  taken  part  in  the  demonstration  had  been  lured  into  the 
city  in  the  early  morning  from  the  Daoud  Pasha  barracks, 
about  a  mile  outside  the  Adrianople  gates,  that  a  detachment 


THE  COUNTER  REVOLUTION      279 

of  the  Deliverers'  army  seized  their  barracks  in  their 
absence,  that  a  fight  had  taken  place  when  its  occupants 
returned,  and  that  a  few  were  killed.  The  army  marching 
upon  Pera  let  us  know  that  it  meant  business  by  the  move- 
ment of  its  cannon  and  the  rattle  of  its  machine  guns.  The 
Harbia  was  converted  into  a  military  hospital,  and  I  saw 
many  tramcars  taking  wounded  men  to  it,  who  were 
attended  amongst  others  by  Dr.  Clemow,  the  physician  to 
the  British  Embassy.  Nearly  a  hundred  men  were  so  taken 
to  the  hospital.  The  longest  resistance  was  made  at  the 
Tashkisla  barracks,  which  were  bombarded  by  a  battery  of 
field  guns  from  the  parade  ground  of  the  military  school 
which  almost  adjoins  the  Harbia.  Between  nine  and  ten 
o'clock  in  the  morning  a  sortie  took  place  from  Yildiz, 
but  by  noon  all  firing  had  ceased.  The  Artillery  Barracks 
had  surrendered,  and  it  was  believed  that  the  Tashkisla 
had  done  the  same.  Thereupon  great  numbers  of  sightseers 
flocked  into  the  streets,  which  indeed  soon  became  crowded. 
To  the  surprise  of  everybody,  Tashkisla,  however,  had  not 
surrendered,  and  had  not  been  examined,  and  about  three  in 
the  afternoon  more  shots  were  required  and  a  rush  with  the 
bayonet  to  effect  its  complete  surrender.  I  went  out  with 
the  crowd  to  see  what  damage  was  done,  and  at  about  half- 
past  four  met  two  English  ladies  who  had  incautiously  gone 
into  the  streets  too  soon.  They  had  been  caught  between 
two  fires,  one  from  the  Tashkisla  barracks,  and  the  other 
from  the  Deliverers'  troops.  Their  position  was  a  serious 
one,  but  happily  a  kindly  Armenian,  occupjdng  one  of  the 
houses  near,  saw  them,  and  invited  them  into  his  house. 
They  gladly  accepted  his  invitation,  and  one  of  them  having 
a  considerable  gift  for  clever  sketching,  drew  an  interesting 
picture  of  the  attack  as  she  saw  it  from  the  roof  of  the 
Armenian  house.  When  we  met  them  and  they  recounted 
their  adventures  it  was  impossible  not  to  make  the  obser- 
vation that  we  English  were  not  unnaturally  called  the 
"  delh,"  or  mad  EngHsh.  One  of  them  wrote  a  charming 
account  of  her  adventures,  to  which  a  bad  reproduction  of 
her  clever  sketch  added  interest. 


28o       FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

Nothing  further  happened  on  this  Saturday,  but  in  the 
meantime  three  of  us  were  rendering  such  assistance  as  we 
could  to  Miss  Gardiner  for  the  interment  of  her  friend. 
There  are  two  burial-places  for  British  subjects  in  Con- 
stantinople, the  most  interesting  of  which  is  of  course  the 
Crimean  cemetery  at  Scutari.  There  Miss  Gardiner  deter- 
mined that  her  friend  should  lie.  Mr.  Eyres,  the  Consul- 
General,  made  arrangements  with  the  Minister  of  Police, 
permitting  a  steam-launch  to  cross  the  Bosporus;  and  a 
bright  Presbyterian,  eminent  already  as  a  bibUcal  scholar, 
who  was  destined  shortly  to  become  a  victim  to  illness, 
undertook  to  conduct  the  service.  We  three,  together  with 
Miss  Gardiner  and  two  of  the  nurses,  accompanied  the 
body  across  the  Bosporus,  and  as  we  passed  the  great 
Selimieh  barracks,  the  barracks  which  will  always  be 
associated  with  the  labours  of  Florence  Nightingale, 
observed  men  outside  it  who  wore  the  yellow  fez  of  the 
Albanians  and  therefore  belonged  to  the  Army  of  Deliverers. 

The  journey  was  not  altogether  without  risk,  because  of  the 
threat  which  had  been  openly  made  that  the  occupants  of 
these  barracks  would  fire  upon  any  barracks  or  other  places 
on  the  European  shore  occupied  by  the  Turks  from  Salonica. 
At  the  cemetery,  which  is  near  the  barracks,  we  were  happily 
informed  by  one  of  the  keepers  that  during  the  morning 
parties  of  two  or  three  soldiers  had  been  quitting  the 
barracks  and  stealing  away  to  the  open  country  behind  it, 
presumably  men  who  were  deserting  from  the  army  of 
reaction.  When  the  service  was  concluded  we  had  to  return 
by  the  same  route  as  that  by  which  we  had  come,  and  then 
saw  to  our  surprise  that  the  barracks  had  been  taken 
possession  of  by  the  Deliverers. 

A  diary  of  recent  events  in  Constantinople,  published  in 
June,  1899,  in  Blackwood's  Magazine,  and  unsigned,  though  I 
think  I  recognise  the  writer,  estimates  that  on  the  previous 
day  between  four  and  five  hundred  men  were  killed,  and 
between  seven  and  eight  himdred  wounded.  During  the 
Sunday,  or  perhaps  even  on  Saturday,  the  supply  of  gas  and 
water  had  been  cut  ofE  from  Yildiz.    On  the  Monday  the 


THE  COUNTER  REVOLUTION  281 

Army  of  Deliverers  took  up  a  position  round  that  palace. 
No  fighting,  however,  took  place.  A  great  crowd  had 
passed  from  it  which  is  described  thus  by  the  writer  in 
Blackwood's  Magazine:  "Among  them  were  men  of  all 
ranks,  classes,  and  ages  :  pashas,  eunuchs,  grooms,  scullions, 
spies,  and  the  general  scourings  and  sweepings  of  the  hated 
palace ;  grey-beards  and  youths ;  men  in  old  Turkish 
costumes  and  men  in  European  dress  ;  Turks,  Jews,  negroes, 
and  one  knew  not  what — all  in  a  truly  pitiable  state  of 
exhaustion  and  terror,  covered  with  dust  and  perspiration 
after  their  tramp,  by  a  long  detour  from  Yildiz  to  Shishli, 
and  thence  to  the  Military  School  at  Pancaldi,  into  which 
they  were  marched.  Many  were  only  partially  dressed,  and 
all  had  evidently  been  packed  off  just  as  they  were  seized. 
One  Pasha — the  First  Tufenkdji,  or  head  of  the  personal 
bodyguard  ol  the  Sultan — had  been  put  in  a  small  country 
carriage,  in  which  he  lay  back,  half  fainting.  Another  was 
on  horseback  with  a  boot  on  one  foot  only.  Later  they 
were  transferred  to  the  Galata  Serai  Prison,  in  the  heart  of 
Pera,  and  thence  to  Stambul." 


CHAPTER  XIX 


ABDUL  HAMID   DEPOSED 


Enver's  Significant  Words — A  New  Era — A  Precipitated 
Coup — ^The  Sultan's  Attitude — ^The  National  Assembly 
Decide  Upon  Deposition — Abdul  Hamid  Informed — 
He  Pleads  for  His  Life — His  Cowardice — Mahomet  V. 
— Abdul  Hamid  is  Packed  Off — Refreshing  the  Harem 
— ^The  New  Sultan  Proclaimed — A  Kindly  Man — 
Defying  Abdul  Hamid — Turkish  Misrule — Fostering 
Religious  Hatred — ^The  Caliphate — ^The  Jehad — ^Bribes 
for  Reactionaries. 

ON  the  Sunday  about  fifty  of  the  Army  of  the 
Deliverers,  killed  in  the  previous  day's  fighting, 
were  buried,  and  received  a  pubhc  funeral. 
Each  coffin  was  covered  by  a  Turkish  flag  and  bore  a  fez 
on  a  small  stick  at  one  end,  as  is  the  usual  custom.  They 
were  all  interred  in  a  common  grave  on  land  which  adjoins 
that  possessed  by  the  English  High  School  for  Girls,  and 
with  much  religious  ceremony.  Patriotic  speeches  were 
delivered  by  Enver  Bey,  as  he  then  was,  and  others.  A 
handsome  monument  has  since  been  erected  over  the  grave, 
and  the  spot  is  called  the  Hill  of  Liberty.  Enver  especially 
emphasised  in  his  speech  that  Moslems  and  Christians  were 
lying  side  by  side  in  token  that  they,  living  or  dying,  were 
henceforward  fellow-patriots  who  would  know  no  distinction 
of  race  or  creed. 

It  is  worth  while  to  mention  that  the  occupation  of 
Constantinople  by  Shevket's  army  on  the  Saturday  took 
place  twenty-four  hours  before  it  was  intended.  This  was 
because  trustworthy  information  had  reached  Shevket  that 

282 


MAHMUI)   SHKVKKT    I'ASHA 


ABDUL  HAMID  DEPOSED  283 

a  massacre  of  Armenians  in  Stambul  was  contemplated. 
The  deputies  and  foreigners  at  the  Mihtary  Schools  were 
also  marked  down  for  assassination.  The  civil  authorities 
communicated  with  San  Stefano  the  fact  that  a  number  of 
Kurds  of  the  lowest  class,  with  which  Stambul  then  abounded, 
were  to  be  the  instruments  in  these  outrages.  The  Kurds 
at  the  Scrkeji  railway  station,  who  had  been  brought  to 
Constantinople  after  the  massacre  of  Armenians  in  the 
city,  were  observed  on  the  Friday  to  be  greatly  excited.  A 
train  with  one  hundred  and  fifty  soldiers  was  promptly  sent 
to  the  station,  arrested  several  Kurds  and  soundly  thrashed 
all  who  opposed  them.  The  general  advance  was  then 
expedited  and  so  the  conspiracy  was  nipped  in  the  bud. 

A  more  ruffianly  set  of  savages  than  the  Kurds  at  the 
central  railway  station  in  Stambul  at  that  time  I  have 
never  seen.  They  brought  with  them  from  Armenia  the 
worst  of  reputations.  Many  of  them  had  taken  part  in  the 
massacres,  the  lootings,  and  the  outrages  upon  women  which 
marked  the  work  of  Abdul  Hamid.  Moslems  as  well  as 
Christians  expressed  their  horror  that  such  men  should  have 
been  brought  into  Constantinople.  Hence  when  the  rumour 
was  spread  that  arrangements  had  been  made — which  we  all 
rightly  or  wrongly  attributed  to  Abdul  Hamid — that  the 
Kurds  were  to  be  given  a  free  hand,  every  respectable 
inhabitant  hoped  and  prayed  for  the  immediate  entry  of 
Shevket's  army.  Of  all  the  stupidities  which  characterised 
the  party  of  reaction  from  April  13  to  the  deposition  of 
Abdul,  this  was  probably  the  worst,  for  it  alienated  such  of 
his  Moslem  supporters  as  would  have  been  indisposed  to 
dethroning  him. 

Constantinople  having  been  captured,  the  immediate  work 
before  the  Committee  was  to  decide  upon  the  fate  of  the 
Sultan.  His  attitude  since  the  13th  had  been  remarkable. 
He  had  issued  no  orders  that  were  made  public.  He  had 
apparently  given  no  sign  of  life.  "  Was  it  conceivable," 
everyone  asked,  "  that  the  great  demonstration  was  without 
his  consent  ?  "  The  commonest  question  asked  in  reply, 
which  is  the  usual  Eastern  way  of  answering,  was,  "  Who 


284      FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

can  benefit  by  getting  rid  of  the  Committee  of  Union  and 
Progress  ?  "  For  the  moment  its  blunders  were  forgotten, 
and  few,  if  any ,  thought  the  demonstration  was  not  intended 
for  the  benefit  of  Abdul  Hamid.  Whether  he  had  any 
directing  hand  in  the  attempt  at  counter  revolution  is 
difiicult  to  say.  It  is  beyond  doubt  that  the  soldiers  who 
demonstrated  had  abundance  of  loose  money,  and  knowing 
that  the  Sultan  had  a  considerable  sum  stored  up  at  Yildiz, 
the  general  belief  was  that  the  large  supply  of  small  money 
came  from  that  place.  The  only  other  persons  from  whom 
it  may  have  come  were  a  few  of  the  highly-placed  servants 
of  Abdul  Hamid.  He  was  so  disliked  amongst  the  com- 
munity generally,  that  I  doubt  whether  any  of  them  would 
have  subscribed  freely,  even  according  to  Turkish  ideas,  to 
support  him. 

All  things  considered,  I  think  it  is  probable  that  he 
furnished  a  considerable  sum  of  money.  That  he  should  be 
willing  to  favour  the  demonstration  made  against  the 
Committee  is  reasonable  enough,  but  never,  in  any  country, 
have  I  seen  so  foolish  an  attempt  at  a  political  movement  as 
was  that  of  April  13.  There  were  a  few  officers  of  neither 
position  nor  ability  with  the  free-shooting  soldiers,  but  there 
was  no  one  who  even  assumed  command  of  them,  and  Abdul 
Hamid  apparently  remained  quietly  at  Yildiz  awaiting 
events,  willing  to  risk  a  certain  sum  of  money,  but  either 
incapable  or  unwilling  to  give  direction  to  the  movement.  It 
was  an  abortive  attempt  which  gave  the  finishing  stroke  to  the 
supposition  that  he  possessed  any  particle  of  statesmanship. 

Naturally  the  Committee  held  him  responsible  for  the 
outbreak,  and  their  first  duty,  therefore,  was  to  consider 
what  should  be  done  with  him.  The  National  Assembly  met 
and  seriously  considered  the  question.  There  were  a  few  in 
favour  of  having  him  killed.  The  majority  took  a  more 
sensible  view.  They  knew  him  better  than  did  the  visitors 
of  various  nations  who  left  Yildiz  with  the  impression  that 
they  had  met  a  man,  and  recognised  that  so  long  as  he  lived 
he  would  be  a  security  for  the  Committee  rather  than  a 
danger.    The  Committee  were  careful  to  follow  legal  forms^ 


ABDUL  HAMID  DEPOSED  285 

and  though  the  National  Assembly  represented  all  sections 
of  the  community,  they  were  careful  to  consult  and  obtain 
the  decision  of  the  highest  religious  court.  They  applied  to 
the  Sheriat  for  a  fetva,  and  it  is  worth  placing  upon  record 
what  was  the  case  submitted  and  what  was  the  response. 
The  question  submitted  to  the  Sheik-ul-Islam  and  the  Fetva 
Emine  was  textually  as  follows  : 

"  What  should  be  done  with  a  Commander  of  the  Faithful 
who  has  suppressed  books  and  important  dispositions  of  the 
Sheriat  Law ;  who  forbids  the  reading  of  and  burns  such 
books  ;  who  wastes  public  money  for  improper  purposes  ; 
who,  without  legal  authority,  kills,  imprisons,  and  tortures 
his  subjects,  and  commits  other  tyrannical  acts  ;  who,  after 
he  has  bound  himself  by  oath  to  amend,  violates  such  oath, 
and  persists  in  sowing  discord,  so  as  to  disturb  the  public 
peace,  thus  occasioning  bloodshed  ? 

"  From  various  provinces  the  news  comes  that  the 
population  has  deposed  him ;  and  it  is  shewn  that  to  maintain 
him  is  manifestly  dangerous,  and  his  deposition  advan- 
tageous. 

"  Under  such  conditions  is  it  permissible  for  the  actual 
governing  body  to  decide  as  seems  best  upon  his  abdication 
or  deposition  ?  " 

The  answer  is  the  simple  word,  "  Yes." 

Upon  this  decision  the  National  Assembly  decided  with 
unanimity  that  Abdul  Hamid  must  be  deposed.  Having 
arrived  at  such  resolution  at  a  secret  meeting,  they  selected 
two  members  of  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  and  two  Senators, 
Mr.  Carasso  a  deputy  and  Essad  Pasha,  a  Senator,  being 
both  prominent  men  among  them,  who  were  to  inform 
Abdul  Hamid  of  their  decision.  I  know  Carasso  well,  and 
Essad  slightly,  and  Carasso  kindly  came  round  the  next  day 
at  my  invitation  to  give  me  an  account  of  what  passed. 
The  four  delegates  went  to  Yildiz,  and  after  several  for- 
maUties,  on  their  shewing  that  they  were  there  on  a  special 
message  to  His  Majesty  from  the  National  Assembly,  were 
ushered  into  a  room  which  they  had  time  to  notice  before 
the  Sultan  entered.    The  room  was  well  supplied  with 


286       FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

mirrors,  so  that,  as  Carasso  observed,  the  Sultan  from  the 
place  where  he  was  to  enter  could  command  a  view  of 
everything  in  it.  The  Sultan  entered,  and  they  made  the 
customary  salute.  Essad  Pasha  spoke,  and  informed  His 
Majesty  that  they  were  there  at  the  request  of  the  National 
Assembly,  and  conformably  to  a  fetva  such  Assembly  had 
pronounced  his  deposition.  Abdul  Hamid  hesitated,  tremb- 
ling, and  then  added,  "  It  is  Kismet.  But  will  my  life  be 
spared  ?  "  Thereupon  Abdul  Hamid  lost  all  his  sang-froid, 
and  demanded  again,  before  his  question  could  be  answered, 
whether  his  life  would  be  spared. 

Essad  repUed,  "  The  sentiment  of  the  nation  alone  can 
guarantee  yoiu:  life,  but  personally  I  believe  your  Majesty's 
life  is  safe." 

When  the  question  was  repeated,  one  of  the  delegates 
answered  that  their  mission  was  ended  in  conve5dng  to  His 
Majesty  that  he  was  deposed  and  his  brother  appointed. 

"  But  you  know,"  said  Abdul  Hamid,  "  what  they  are 
going  to  do  with  me.    Will  they  kill  me  ?  " 

Carasso  replied  that  they  had  no  authority  to  make  any 
statement  on  that  subject. 

"  But  what  do  you  believe  ?  Don't  you  know  that  they 
will  kill  me  ?  " 

"  No,  your  Majesty,  we  do  not  know  that.  The  Turkish 
people  are  a  long-suffering  people,  and  are  always  disposed 
to  be  merciful." 

"  But  why  should  they  kill  me  ?  I  have  had  my  brother 
Reshad  in  my  power  for  thirty-two  years,  and  I  let  him  live. 
I  had  Murad  also  in  my  power  and  did  not  kill  him." 

Abdul  pleaded  hard  for  his  life,  but  the  deputation  was  not 
able  to  give  him  any  consolation  as  to  what  his  ultimate  fate 
might  be.  After  a  long  pause  Abdul  cried  out,  "  May  the 
curse  of  God  rest  on  those  who  have  caused  the  trouble." 

Carasso  replied,  "  Amin,  Amin.    May  they  be  cursed." 

Meantime,  Abdul's  grandson  had  come  to  his  side,  and 
GaUb  and  Tahir  Bey  appeared  at  the  door  by  which  the 
deputies  had  entered.  The  deputies  then  stated  that, 
having  made  their  communication,  they  wished  to  leave, 


ABDUL  HAMID  DEPOSED  287 

but  the  Sultan  appeared  to  hesitate  to  permit  their  departure. 
His  grandson  burst  into  tears,  and  the  Sultan  let  fall  an 
expression  indicating  that  he  believed  he  had  been  deceived 
into  thinking  that  the  proceedings  of  the  Macedonians  were 
bluff. 

Finally  Abdul  Hamid  asked  where  he  would  be  allowed  to 
live.  The  deputies  replied  that  they  knew  nothing  as  to 
this,  on  which  Abdul  expressed  his  desire  that  he  might  be 
allowed  to  occupy  the  Cheragan  palace.  Upon  this  the 
deputation  left  the  room. 

Carasso  stated  that  the  presence  of  the  child  at  this 
interview  gave  it  a  peculiarly  pathetic  character. 

Meantime  Reshad  Effendi,  as  he  was  generally  called,  was 
informed  that  he  had  become  Sultan,  and  took  the  title  of 
Mahomet  V.  On  the  night  of  the  same  Tuesday  the  27th 
a  few  motor-cars  and  carriages  drew  up  at  Yildiz,  took 
possession  of  the  deposed  Sultan  and  a  number  of  ladies  of 
his  harem,  and  drove  off  quietly  to  the  railway  station  well 
guarded  by  troops.  A  special  train  had  been  prepared  for 
him.  But  the  arrangements  were  otherwise  clumsily 
managed.  Persons  who  happened  to  be  at  the  station  told 
the  story  of  the  ladies  of  the  harem  having  nothing  to  eat  or 
drink.  They  had  been  roused  up  in  the  middle  of  the  night, 
and  only  had  time  to  take  a  small  quantity  of  clothes  when 
they  were  bundled  into  the  carriages.  Happily  at  the 
refreshment-room  in  the  station  simple  provisions  were 
obtainable  by  those  who  had  money  to  pay  for  them,  but 
one  of  the  attendants  was  asked  by  the  ladies  to  tell  His 
Majesty  that  they  had  nothing  to  eat  and  no  money  with 
which  to  pay  for  food.  His  Majesty  was  able  to  supply 
their  need,  and  towards  three  in  the  morning  the  train 
steamed  off  to  Salonica.    Abdul  Hamid  had  ceased  to  reign. 

As  already  mentioned,  the  successor  of  Abdul  Hamid  was 
appointed  on  Tuesday,  April  27,  1909.  I  was  out  of  doors 
early  on  that  day  in  anticipation  of  a  public  ceremony. 
During  the  night  all  the  mosques  had  been  secured,  and  I 
observed  that  great  numbers  of  ofi&cers  were  passing  from 


288       FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

Pera  to  Stambul,  for  the  National  Assembly  was  to  meet  at 
eight  o'clock.  At  half-past  ten  cartridges  were  distributed 
to  the  troops  outside  the  portico  of  the  Yeni  Jami  mosque. 
By  eleven  o'clock  the  main  thoroughfares  of  the  city  were 
blocked  and  access  cut  off  by  soldiers.  Shortly  afterwards, 
watching  from  the  roof  of  the  great  building  of  the  Public 
Debt  Department,  I  saw  both  the  bridges  across  the  Golden 
Horn  cleared  of  the  crowd,  and  at  the  same  time  the  great 
thoroughfare  leading  to  the  Scrkeji  landing-place  on  the 
Stambul  shore,  also  cleared,  was  lined  with  troops.  At 
half-past  twelve  a  battery  of  guns  was  moved  into  the 
square  on  the  south  side  of  St.  Sophia,  the  ancient 
Augusteimi,  the  site  of  many  picturesque  historical  scenes 
in  the  city's  history.  The  battery  and  troops  were  there  for 
the  protection  of  the  Chamber  of  Deputies,  which  was  now 
sitting  for  the  first  time  since  the  outbreak  of  April  13. 
Soon  afterwards  a  Salonica  regiment,  largely  composed  of 
Albanians,  came  from  Galata  and  formed  up  at  Scrkeji.  Then 
boomed  out  the  first  of  the  fateful  hundred  and  one  guns 
announcing  the  accession  of  a  new  Sultan.  The  roofs,  the 
houses,  and  streets  were  all  crowded  with  people :  Moslems  and 
Christians  alike  expressed  their  joy  by  a  general  clapping 
of  hands.  The  guns  resounded  at  half-minute  intervals 
and  each  report  was  followed  by  applause  from  tens  of 
thousands  of  hands.  The  sound  resembled  a  sudden 
rainfall  upon  a  set  of  drums,  and  was  at  once  singular  and 
invigorating. 

Then  from  my  point  of  vantage  I  saw  three  steam-launches 
coming  from  the  direction  of  Beshiktash,  only  a  quarter  of  a 
mile  farther  up  the  Bosporus  than  Abdul  Hamid's  palace 
of  Dolma  Bagsche.  They  arrived  at  the  landing-place  of 
Scrkeji,  where  many  attendants  and  several  Ambassadors 
and  Ministers,  among  whom  was  the  British,  were  gathered 
together.  A  procession  was  then  formed  which  made  its 
way  towards  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  and  St.  Sophia. 
The  new  ruler  was  saluted  all  along  the  route  with  hand- 
clapping  and  cheering  more  vigorous  than  ever.  There 
could  be  no  mistaking  the  signs  of  popular  rejoicing. 


ABDUL  HAMID  DEPOSED  289 

Mahomet  V.,  as  Mahomet  Reshad  Effendi  chose  to 
be  proclaimed,  is  the  younger  brother  of  the  deposed  Abdul 
Hamid,  both  being  the  sons  of  Abdul  Medjid,  who  died  in 
1861.  He  was  born  in  1844.  He  has  always  been  remark- 
able for  his  unassuming  and  gentle  character,  but  of  educa- 
tion in  the  usual  sense  of  the  word  he  never  had  a  chance. 
Ever  since  Abdul  Hamid's  sudden  accession  to  power  in 
1876  he  was  kept  under  close  surveillance.  All  his  entour- 
age, beginning  with  the  ladies  of  the  harem  and  ending  with 
the  scullions,  were  nominees  of  Abdul  Hamid  and  acted  as 
his  spies.  Mahomet  V.  shewed  his  kindliness  by  refusing  to 
accept  the  proposal  of  the  Young  Turks  to  dismiss  the  mem- 
bers of  his  household  and  to  have  others  of  his  choice,  alleging 
that  if  he  did  so  they  would  be  deprived  of  all  means  of  liveli- 
hood. On  the  sole  occasion  when  I  could  have  a  good  look  at 
him,  and  on  which  he  sent  me  a  courteous  message,  I  was 
impressed  with  his  kindliness.  He  is  said  to  belong  to  the  sect 
of  Dervishes  known  as  Mehlevis,  and  I  can  well  believe  it. 
Piety  is  stamped  upon  his  countenance  as  it  is  upon  so  many 
adherents  of  the  great  pietistic  body.  Had  it  been  his  fate 
to  be  born  in  England  or  Scotland,  he  would  have  been  a 
churchwarden  or  an  Elder,  chosen,  not  for  his  worldly 
knowledge  or  ability,  but  for  his  simple  goodness  of  heart. 
I  do  not  know  whether  the  various  rumours  that  have  been 
telegraphed  on  several  occasions  to  Europe,  to  the  effect 
that  he  wishes  to  abdicate,  are  true  or  not.  But  I  am  quite 
sure  that  if  they  are,  the  Turkish  Government  is  wise  in 
prajdng  him  to  remain  on  the  throne. 

There  were  features  about  the  attempt  at  reaction  which 
axe  worthy  of  notice.  In  the  first  place  there  were  no  signs 
amongst  the  civil  population  of  discontent  with  the  Com- 
mittee. The  demonstration  was  made  by  the  troops  alone. 
It  is  true  that  among  the  troops  were  men  disguised  as 
ulema  who  clamoured  for  the  Sacred  Law.  There  were  also 
some  softas,  some  of  whom  possibly  had  been  bought,  but 
others  who  had  been  carried  away  by  the  fervour  of  religious 
fanaticism.    The  cry  of  "  Religion  in  danger  "  appealed  to 

u 


290      FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

them.  The  wonder  to  me  then  and  now  is  that  more  were 
not  carried  away  by  this  cry.  The  sHght  response  which  it 
received  was  proof  of  what  I  have  elsewhere  maintained, 
that  there  has  been  a  real  diminution,  especially  in  the 
capital,  of  religious  fanaticism. 

This  was,  in  fact,  the  most  remarkable  feature  of  the 
movement.  Hitherto  Turkish  risings,  whether  in  the  capital 
or  in  the  provinces,  had  always  been  marked  by  outbreaks 
of  Moslem  fanaticism.  A  valuable  but  well-nigh  forgotten 
book  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Walsh,  Chaplain  of  the  British  Em- 
bassy in  Constantinople  during  several  years  between  1820 
and  1830,  gives  very  vivid  pictures  which  shew  how  readily 
hostihty  between  the  races  became  struggles  between 
Moslem  and  Christian.  It  was  the  period  in  which  the 
Patriarch  was  hanged  at  his  own  gate,  of  the  massacre  of 
Chios,  of  a  condition  of  things  in  Smyrna  when  every  Moslem 
who  had  a  gun  was  prepared  to  shoot  at  sight  any 
Christian.  It  is  almost  inconceivable,  even  to  those  like 
myself  who  have  lived  long  in  Turkey,  to  mark  the  diminu- 
tion of  fanaticism  in  western  Turkey.  In  the  events  of 
1909  in  Constantinople  there  was  not  a  sign  of  it.  There 
was  ostentatious  friendship  between  Moslems  and  Christians. 
We  knew  of  course  that  deep  down  in  the  heart  of  the 
Moslem  peasant  there  were  depths  of  fanaticism.  This  was 
shewn  in  the  murder  of  a  Greek  already  mentioned  for  having 
been  found  trying  to  make  love  to  a  Turkish  woman.  But 
the  widespread  character  of  the  tyranny  of  Abdul  Hamid  had 
been  a  contributory  cause  to  the  silencing  of  fanaticism. 
His  treatment  of  Christians  was  not  believed  to  be  due  to 
zedX  for  religion.  The  man  in  the  street  beUeved  that  it  was 
largely  owing  to  the  fact  that  Abdul  himself  was  of  Armenian 
blood.  Happily  there  were  other  and  more  hopeful  con- 
tributory causes. 

The  Moslem  community  in  Turkey  is  largely  led  by  the 
chiefs  of  the  ulema.  I  have  already  mentioned  that  the 
Sheik-ul-Islam,  at  the  time  of  the  Revolution  until  the  attempt 
at  reaction,  was  essentially  a  liberal-minded  man,  and  my 
interviews  with  him  and  others  who  were  near  him  convinced 


ABDUL  HAMID   DEPOSED  291 

me  that  they  would  have  no  sympathy  with  a  fanatical 
rising.  The  fact  that  the  cry  for  the  Sheriat,  "  Rehgion  in 
danger,"  even  when  coupled  with  "  Down  with  the  Com- 
mittee !  "  fell  upon  unwilling  ears,  shewed  great  progress 
in  Moslem  public  opinion.  This  was  recognised  generally. 
Accordingly  one  of  the  first  acts  of  the  Commander-in-Chief, 
Shevket  Pasha,  after  he  had  shipped  off  Abdul  Hamid,  was 
pubHcly  and  formally  to  thank  the  ulema  for  their  loyal 
support.  If  at  the  supreme  moment  of  danger  they  had 
supported  the  cry  of  "  ReUgion  in  danger,"  the  mutiny 
might  have  succeeded  in  bringing  about  a  bloody  struggle  in 
the  streets  of  the  capital. 

The  Sheik-ul-Islam  who  was  in  power  on  April  13  was  not 
the  one  with  whom  I  had  the  interviews,  but  another  who 
was  appointed  upon  his  advice,  for,  in  accordance  with 
Moslem  usage,  when  Mahomet  V.  was  proclaimed  a  new 
Sheik  had  to  be  and  was  appointed.  He,  however,  belonged 
to  the  same  liberal  school  of  Moslem  theology. 

A  story  regarding  the  new  Sheik-ul-Islam,  named  Sahib 
MoUah,  is  worth  telling.  During  the  reign  of  Abdul  Hamid 
he  had  proved  himself  a  man.  He  had  been  sounded  on  the 
question  as  to  whether  he  could  change  the  order  of  suc- 
cession. It  will  be  remembered  that  the  Khedive  IsmaU 
had  succeeded  in  obtaining  an  imperial  firman  changing  the 
order  of  succession  to  the  throne  of  Egypt  from  the  Asiatic 
to  the  European  mode.  It  was  natural  that  the  Sultan 
should  wish  to  make  such  a  change  applicable  to  Turkey, 
so  that  his  own  son  might  come  to  the  throne — an  event 
which  cannot  happen  unless  at  least  a  dozen  persons  belong- 
ing to  the  imperial  family  who  are  older  than  he  should 
predecease  him.  The  Sheik-ul-Islam  boldly  replied  that  such 
a  change  could  not  in  conformity  with  the  religious  law  be 
accepted,  a  decision  not  to  the  mind  of  the  Sovereign. 

But,  on  what  Abdul  Hamid  probably  considered  a  more 
important  occasion.  Sahib  Mollah  had  shewn  his  indepen- 
dence. When  Midhat  Pasha  was  placed  upon  his  trial  and 
convicted  of  the  murder  of  Abdul  Aziz,  Sahib  MoUah  was  a 
member  of  the  tribunal.    Great  pressure  was  brought  to  bear 


292  FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 
upon  him  to  consent  to  the  death  sentence.  Like  Sir  Henry 
Elliot  and  most  men  who  were  there  at  the  time,  myself 
included,  he  believed  that  the  Sultan's  death  was  by  suicide, 
and  he  therefore  refused  to  join  in  the  conviction  of  Midhat, 
and  was  the  only  judge  who  would  not  bow  to  Abdul  Hamid's 
menaces.  For  this  resistance  he  fell  and  remained  in  dis- 
grace with  the  Sultan.  This  was  well  known  in  the  capital, 
and  it  was  not  surprising  that  his  sympathies  had  been  with 
the  Young  Turks  since  they  formed  their  Committee.  His 
appointment  as  head  of  the  Moslem  hierarchy  met  with 
general  approval,  and  this  although  his  reputation  was  far 
from  being  as  high  as  that  of  his  predecessor. 

I  have  written  during  the  last  forty  years  many  hard  things 
regarding  Moslem  fanaticism  in  Turkey,  and,  speaking 
generally,  I  see  no  reason  whatever  to  retract  anything.  It 
has  been  the  greatest  hindrance  to  the  fusion  of  the  races  of 
the  empire,  and  so  long  as  it  exists  and  is  uncontrolled, 
equaUty  or  fraternity  are  not  possible.  It  was  and  is  a  bar 
to  all  progress.  It  depopulated  great  portions  of  Asia 
Minor,  and  reduced  populous  cities  to  mere  villages.  Above 
all,  it  saturated  the  ignorant  peasantry  with  the  idea  of 
dominancy  and  a  spiritual  conceit  which  rendered  them 
impervious  to  any  education  which  would  improve  their  lot. 
They  had  a  divine  right  to  lord  it  over  their  Christian  fellow- 
subjects,  and  if  the  latter  became  rich,  which  they  con- 
stantly did  on  accoimt  of  their  greater  intelligence,  industry 
and  better  education,  the  Moslems  were  ever  ready  at  the 
command  of  the  agents  of  Government  to  despoil  their 
neighbours  and  to  commit  wholesale  massacres. 

It  should  never  be  forgotten  that  the  whole  period  of 
Turkish  misrule,  since  the  capture  of  Constantinople  in 
1453,  is  a  period  during  which  Moslem  supremacy  existed 
by  means  of  periodical  mcissacres.  The  Moslem  villagers, 
naturally  kind  and  hospitable,  once  questions  arose  which 
appealed  to  their  reUgious  prejudices,  shewed  the  worst 
features  of  their  character.  But  here  in  1909  the  Young 
Turkey  party  repressed  the  serious  attempt  at  reaction  just 


ABDUL  HAMID  DEPOSED  293 

as  they  had  brought  about  the  Revolution  nine  months 
earUer,  not  only  without  any  appeal  whatever  to  religious 
animosity,  but  with  the  strong  support  of  the  chiefs  of  the 
Moslem  community.  Turkey  had  travelled  far  when  it  had 
got  away  from  the  fanaticism  of  less  than  a  century  ago  to 
such  a  stage.  When  their  enemies  spoke  of  the  Committee 
consisting  of  Jews,  atheists,  and  freemasons,  they  were 
either  willingly  perverse  or  ignorant  or  forgetful  of  the 
condition  of  feehng  existing  between  Moslems  and  Chris- 
tians in  the  first  half  of  last  century. 

The  efforts  of  Abdul  Hamid  had  always  been  directed 
towards  increasing  the  hostility  between  Moslems  and 
Christians.  This  desire  shewed  itself  in  his  efforts  to  have 
himself  recognised  as  Caliph.  The  word  signifies  vicegerent. 
The  tradition  in  Islam  remained  for  nine  hundred  years  that 
there  should  be  a  successor  of  Mahomet  who  should  exercise 
the  same  power  over  all  the  faithful  throughout  the  world 
which  Mahomet  had  claimed  during  his  Ufe.  Without 
entering  into  the  story  of  many  claimants  throughout  the 
early  centuries  of  Mahometan  history,  the  office,  so  far  as 
the  Sunni  Division  of  Moslems  to  which  the  Turks  belong, 
had  come  in  1500  to  be  recognised  as  vested  in  the  Sherif 
of  Mecca,  the  Guardian  of  the  Sacred  Cities.  The  occupant 
of  that  position  in  1516  was  in  Egypt  when  the  country  was 
conquered  by  Selim  I.,  the  son  of  Sultan  Mahomet  the 
Conqueror.  On  such  conquest  the  then  Sherif  of  Mecca 
submitted,  and  the  Sultan  took  the  title  of  Guardian  of  the 
Sacred  Cities.  Subsequent  Sultans  have  always  preserved 
the  title,  and  called  themselves  caliphs.  They  have, 
however,  never  been  recognised  in  Morocco,  Tunis,  and 
Algiers.  Such  a  pretension  is  unknown  among  the  great 
Mahometan  division  of  the  Shiahs.  According  to  them,  the 
Imam  or  Caliph  is  almost,  if  not  entirely,  an  incarnation  of 
Divinity. 

As  shewing  the  weakness  of  this  claim,  I  may  mention 
that  the  Rev.  Dr.  Hughes,  writing  about  seven  years  ago, 
said,  "  After  a  careful  study  of  the  whole  subject  for  thirty 
years,  twenty  having  been  spent  among  the  mosques  of  the 


294  FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 
Moslems  (in  India),  I  will  defy  anyone  to  produce  any 
reasonable  proof  that  any  Moslem  scholar  in  India  acknow- 
ledges Abdul  Hamid  as  the  rightful  CaUph."  It  would  be 
easy  to  mention  other  authorities,  but  that  of  Dr.  Hughes 
is  sufficient.  He  is  a  writer  of  authority  whose  Dictionary  of 
Islam  is  a  well-known  text  book  to  all  interested  in  the 
subject.  Abdul  Hamid  made  many  attempts  to  strengthen 
his  position  as  CaUph,  and  some  thirteen  or  fourteen  years 
ago  took  a  step  in  Constantinople  which  occasioned  surprise. 
The  qualifications  for  the  office  were  judged  so  important, 
that  imtil  that  time  they  were  posted  up  in  all  the  great 
mosques  of  Constantinople.  The  first  of  them  was  that  he 
was  to  belong  to  the  tribe  of  the  Koreish.  Another  was  that 
the  CaUph  should  be  elected.  Abdul  Hamid  did  not  possess 
either  of  these  qualifications,  not  to  mention  others ;  he  gave 
orders  that  these  Usts  of  qualifications  should  be  taken  down 
in  all  the  mosques.  The  action  was  regarded  as  an  attempt 
to  interfere  with  sacred  teaching.  One  of  the  leading 
mollahs  to  whom  I  mentioned  the  order  replied,  "  Does 
Abdul  Hamid  take  us  to  be  fools  ?  All  of  us  who  are  engaged 
in  teaching  know  them  by  heart.  Does  he  think  that  we 
shall  cease  to  teach  them  because  he  has  had  the  notice  torn 
down  ?  The  only  result  will  be  to  make  us  understand  that 
he  knows  he  is  not  the  Caliph." 

Abdul  wished  his  position  as  Caliph  to  be  distinctly 
recognised,  in  order  that  when  he  proclaimed  the  Holy  War 
his  Moslem  subjects  would  act  as  one  man  because  the  order 
came  from  "  the  Shadow  of  God,"  and  Moslems  who  were 
not  his  subjects  would  join  them.  During  the  last  thirty 
years  of  his  reign  he  constantly  expressed  his  desire  for  the 
spread  of  Islam,  and  his  paid  agents  both  in  and  out  of 
Turkey  had  much  to  say  about  Pan  Islamism.  Even  in 
English  newspapers,  which  ought  to  have  been  better 
informed,  much  was  made  of  this  cry.  The  notion  that  all 
Moslems  throughout  the  world  would  be  ready  to  fight  to 
the  death  for  the  cause  of  a  war  proclaimed  by  the  Moslem 
Caliph,  suggested  horrors  that  took  one  back  in  imagination 
to  the  massacres  of  Bagdad  and  of  the  great  hordes  of 


ABDUL  HAMID  DEPOSED  295 

invaders  from  Central  Asia.  I  have  heard  again  and  again 
that  such  kind  of  Holy  War  was  about  to  be  proclaimed,  and 
that  we  should  see  terrible,  mysterious,  and  unheard-of 
results.  The  Prophet's  banner  was  to  be  brought  out  from 
the  famous  library  of  Top  Capu  in  Constantinople,  and  the 
enemies  of  Islam  would  flee  before  it. 

Probably  I  heard  most  of  the  dire  results  which  were  to 
follow  during  the  Turco-Russian  war  in  1877-78.  But  the 
proclamation  had  no  effect  whatever.  Everybody  will 
remember  that  much  fuss  was  made  about  the  proclamation 
of  the  Jehad  or  Holy  War  in  1914,  but  the  moUahs,  as  Turkish 
subjects,  were  still  on  friendly  terms  with  the  Committee, 
and  were  not  whole-hearted  in  making  the  proclamation. 
It  was  so  qualified  in  the  declaration  that  it  fell  flat,  and  did 
not  add  a  soldier  to  the  Turkish  army.  As  I  do  not  wish  to 
say  anything  more  on  the  subject,  either  of  Holy  Wars  at 
of  Moslem  fanaticism,  let  me  conclude  this  paragraph  by 
saying  that  the  events  of  the  last  six  years  have  had  the 
satisfactory  result  of  shewing  the  decay  of  Moslem 
fanaticism. 

In  the  nine  or  ten  days'  interval  between  April  13  and 
the  deportation  of  Abdul  Hamid,  I  went  about  daily  in 
the  streets  of  Constantinople  to  try  and  find  who  were 
the  parties  who  had  favoured  the  revolutionary  movement. 
My  first  impression  was  that  the  religious  caste  of  the  ulema 
had  taken  a  prominent  share  in  it.  They  are  the  leaders  of 
Moslem  thought,  conservative  in  habit  of  mind,  and  opposed, 
as  such  bodies  are  in  all  countries,  to  violent  change.  I  knew 
that  the  revolted  troops,  so  far  as  they  had  a  cry,  had  de- 
clared in  favour  of  the  religious  law  of  the  Sheri,  and  had 
alleged  that  Mahometanism  was  in  danger.  But  the  cry  fell 
flat,  and  the  few  who  uttered  it  were  apparently  regarded 
with  contempt  by  their  brethren.  Amongst  the  troops  it 
turned  out  afterwards  that  there  were  a  few  spies  disguised  as 
moUahs  who  tried  to  raise  such  a  cry,  but  who  were  arrested 
and  some  of  them  executed.  Nowhere  did  I  find  that  the 
cry  created  any  impression.  It  was  from  the  first  disliked, 
disowned  by  the  ulema. 


296      FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

I  have  said  that  Abdul  Hamid  remained  inactive  during  the 
13th.  He  lent  colour,  however,  to  the  belief  that  the  movement 
was  designed  by  him  by  issuing  a  declaration  at  the  end  of  the 
day  granting  an  indemnity  to  the  mutineers.  It  was  found 
that  money  had  been  very  freely  distributed.  A  well-known 
reactionary  was  caught  with  the  sum  of  £2,700  on  him,  and 
the  assertion  was  made  that  no  less  than  £12,000  was  taken 
from  prisoners  upon  their  arrest.  Abdul  Hamid  appointed 
Tewfik  as  Grand  Vizier,  and,  still  having  some  organs  in  the 
Press  which  were  in  his  pay,  set  them  to  declare  that  he  had 
no  intention  of  attacking  the  Constitution.  He  had  played 
his  best  to  bring  about  a  counter  revolution,  and  had  failed. 
From  whatever  point  of  view  the  plot  may  be  examined,  it 
was  a  fooUsh  and  stupid  one. 


CHAPTER  XX 

STRUGGLES  OF  THE  COMMITTEE  OF  UNION  AND  PROGRESS 

A  Question  of  Responsibility — ^The  Adana  Massacre — 
A  Commission  of  Enquiry — Examining  Yildiz  Kiosk — 
Embarrassing  Discoveries — Hanging  Reactionaries — 
The  C.U.P.  Visits  France  and  England — Javad  Bey's 
Mission  a  Failure — ^The  C.U.P. 's  Blunders — ^Turkifying 
Everything — ^A  FooUsh  Boycott — A  Secret  Struggle 
— A  Jehad  that  Failed — ^The  Sultan's  Progress — ^A 
Severe  Criticism — Hakki  Pasha's  Comment— A  Struggle 
for  Life — ^Damat  Ferid  Pasha — The  Dogs  of  Constan- 
tinople— Their  Unwritten  Laws — ^A  Terrible  Fate — 
Great  Fires  in  Stambul — Young  Turks'  Vigorous 
Action — ^An  Insanitary  Hospital — ^Fire  Insurance 
Claims — ^The  Turks  and  Life  Insurance — ^A  New  Law 
— ^Absurd  Clauses — My  Drastic  Excisions — ^Decentral- 
isation— A  Cumbrous  System — ^The  Gendarmerie — The 
Modern  Woman  Phase — Miss  Isabel  Fry's  Work. 

IT  is  even  yet  too  soon  to  speak  dogmatically  as  to  the 
causes  of  the  futile  demonstration  of  April  13,  1909. 
It  was,  beyond  doubt,  intended  to  strike  at  the 
Committee  of  Union  and  Progress,  and  had  there  been  a 
military  leader  of  ability  who  would  have  placed  himself  at 
the  head  of  the  disaffected  soldiers,  the  result  might  have 
been  the  re-establishment  of  Abdul  Hamid  as  an  Absolute 
Ruler.  But  he  himself  had  no  such  ability,  and,  with  the 
exception  of  suppljdng  money,  allowed  things  to  drift,  with 
the  results  which  I  have  mentioned  ;  nor  was  there  a  soldier 
of  eminence  who  cared  to  espouse  his  cause.  The  revolt 
was  almost  entirely  limited  to  the  capital.  But,  to  say  the 
least,  it  is  a  curious  coincidence  that  in  several  cities  in  Asia 
Minor  there  were  similar  risings  on  the  same  date,  suggesting 

297 


298       FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 
that  there  was  some  kind  of  organisation.    English  and 
other  newspapers  learnt  from  their  own  correspondents  of 
such  attempts. 

Far  and  away  the  most  serious  was  in  Adana,  the  chief 
town  of  CiUcia,  where  serious  events  occurred  which  ter- 
minated in  the  massacre  of  several  thousand  Armenians.  It 
is  no  part  of  my  purpose  to  describe  this  movement,  on 
which  I  have  conmiented  in  Turkey  and  its  People.  An 
interesting  question  in  regard  to  it  was,  "  Had  the  movement 
the  support  of  the  Committee  of  Union  and  Progress  or 
not  ?  "  There  is  hardly  any  question  which  in  Constan- 
tinople has  of  late  years  been  more  fully  discussed.  We 
had  as  British  Consul  at  Adana  during  that  time  the  brave 
Colonel  Doughty  Wylie,  who  was  unfortunately  killed  as 
recently  as  the  spring  of  1915  at  the  Dardanelles.  He  was 
always  reticent  on  the  subject,  and  probably  considered 
reticence  as  his  duty.  But  he  admitted  that  the  conduct 
of  the  Turkish  authorities  was  abominable. 

I  have  had  the  advantage  of  discussing  the  matter,  not 
only  with  the  Armenian  Bishop  and  leading  ecclesiastics 
of  the  province,  but  with  Lady  Rosalind  Northcote,  who 
went  out  as  a  volunteer  nurse  to  aid  the  refugee  victims 
whose  kinsmen  had  been  killed  and  their  houses  burnt ;  also 
with  Mr.  Charles  H.  Woods,  who  visited  the  country,  and 
Dr.  Chambers,  a  much  respected  Canadian  missionary  who 
did  splendid  work  among  the  fugitives,  and  with  others.  I 
arrived  at  the  conclusion  that  the  Committee  in  Con- 
stantinople strongly  disapproved  of  the  outbreak,  but  that 
it  was  actually  ordered  by  certain  of  the  extremists  of  the 
Committee  in  Salonica.  Their  argimient,  as  stated  to  me  by 
a  clear-headed  and  well-informed  Armenian  publicist,  was 
this :  the  Armenians  of  CiUcia  had  joined  heartily  in  the 
cries  for  a  new  Constitution,  and  had  asserted  their  Uberty 
and  equality  with  Moslems  in  terms  which  were  unnecessarily 
offensive.  Their  cry  was  that  the  Moslems  had  had  their 
turn,  now  had  come  that  of  the  Armenians.  It  was  as  if 
slaves  had  suddenly  been  set  free  and  made  the  equals  of 
their  masters.    That  many  of  them  made  idle  and  irritating 


COMMITTEE  OF  UNION  AND  PROGRESS    299 

boasts  is  beyond  doubt.  These  were  taken  up  by  children 
and  the  stupid  people  amongst  the  Moslems  and  Armenians 
alike,  and  the  result  was  that  when  an  outcry  against  the 
Armenians  was  raised  it  led  to  massacres  quite  in  the  style 
of  those  between  1895  and  1900. 

The  Committee  were  alarmed  when  they  found  the  result 
on  European  opinion.  The  event  had  angered  their  best 
friends.  Subscriptions  for  the  relief  of  orphans  and  widows 
and  for  the  reconstruction  of  buildings  were  raised  in 
England  and  America,  and  a  large  committee  was  formed  in 
Constantinople  to  administer  that  rehef.  Talaat  Bey,  who 
has  always  been  prominent  among  the  Young  Turkey  Party, 
was  President,  and  several  of  the  leading  Europeans  of  the 
city,  chosen  irrespective  of  religion,  together  with  the  leading 
Armenians,  Greeks,  and  Jews,  were  members.  The  com- 
mittee did  much  for  the  relief  of  the  sufferers.  On  two 
occasions,  in  the  absence  of  Talaat  Bey,  I  was  unanimously 
appointed  its  chairman.  The  greatest  amount  of  relief, 
however,  was  distributed,  and  in  many  cases  sent  directly 
to  Mr.  Peet,  an  American  who  acts  as  business  manager, 
banker,  and  general  factotum  for  all  the  American  missions 
in  Asia  Minor,  a  man  of  untiring  energy  and  of  good  business 
capacity. 

A  commission  was  named  by  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  to 
enquire  into  the  circumstances  of  the  rising  in  Adana  and 
of  the  massacres.  A  much-respected  Armenian  was  named 
upon  it.  We  all  trusted  that  his  report  would  give  us  the 
complete  story.  Unfortunately,  a  day  or  two  after  his 
arrival  back  in  Constantinople  he  died.  Nothing  inflicted 
a  greater  blow  upon  the  fraternal  spirit  with  which  the  Ar- 
menians had  entered  into  conmion  work  with  the  Committee 
than  did  these  outrages  in  Cilicia.  Two  or  three  of  the 
leading  Armenian  deputies  did  their  best  to  stem  the 
current  of  hostility  in  their  own  community  against  the 
Committee  for  what  they  believed  to  be  its  conduct  in  that 
province. 

My  friend  Mr.  Zohrab,  an  Armenian  deputy  of  ability 
with  whom  I  discussed  the  question  very  fully  at  the  time, 


300      FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

felt  that  in  the  interest  of  his  race  it  was  better  not  to  give 
prominence  to  the  massacre.  Whether  they  hked  it  or  not, 
Armenians  had  to  hve  among  the  Tm^ks,  and  unless  they 
could  continue  on  good  terms  with  the  Committee,  the  only 
alternative  to  a  series  of  new  massacres  was  to  make  an 
appeal  to  be  united  to  Russia.  But  as  Russia  up  to  that 
time  had  been  curiously  narrow  in  its  treatment  of  the 
Armenian  Church  and  community,  and  seemed  to  wish  to 
have  nothing  to  do  with  its  people,  there  were  very  few 
amongst  them  who  were  in  favour  of  such  an  appeal.  The 
choice,  said  others,  is  between  massacre  and  Russia.  Hence 
the  general  sentiment  amongst  them  was  that  they  must 
make  common  cause  with  the  Turks  as  represented  by  the 
Young  Turkey  Party,  and  this  they  continued  to  do  until 
the  outbreak  of  the  war  in  1914. 

The  events  of  April  had  so  shaken  the  Committee,  that  in 

order  that  they  should  remain  in  power  they  tried  to  make  a 

clean  sweep  of  both  abuses  and  opponents.    Its  leading 

members  strongly  supported  such  action.    At  the  burial  of 

^  the  loyal  troops  who  had  been  killed  in  taking  possession  of 

^Constantinople,   Enver   had   made  an   impressive   speech 

V  already  quoted  insisting  that  these  deaths  in  the  service 

of  a  common  country  ought  to  unite  Moslems,  Christians, 

and  Israelites.    Shevket,  the  of&cer  in  command,  always 

took  up  the  same  line. 

The  popularity  of  the  British,  though  not  so  great  as  it 
had  been  nine  months  earlier,  still  continued,  especially 
amongst  the  troops.  An  incident  occurred  which  illustrated 
this.  About  May  i,  1909,  an  old  merchant  captain  was 
buried  in  the  civil  side  of  the  British  cemetery  at  Scutari. 
As  the  cort^e  entered  the  cemetery  it  passed  a  body  of 
Macedonian  troops  who  had  come  with  Shevket,  and  a 
number  of  soldiers  ranged  themselves  in  orderly  fashion  on 
each  side  and  accompanied  the  body  to  the  grave.  Their 
officer  was  informed  that  the  deceased  was  not  in  the  public 
service.  "  But,"  replied  he,  "  he  was  an  Englishman," 
and  the  soldiers,  in  good  order  so  as  to  convey  no  alarm 


COMMITTEE  OF  UNION  AND   PROGRESS    301 

among   the   mourners,   fired    over  the   grave   a   military 
salute. 

Some  lady  friends,  British  and  American,  had  opened  a 
flower  mission,  keeping  the  sick  and  wounded  in  various 
hospitals  supplied  with  flowers.  Some  of  them,  amongst 
whom  was  my  own  daughter,  hesitated  at  offering  flowers  to 
the  wounded  Turks.  They  determined,  however,  to  try. 
They  visited  a  military  hospital  near  St.  Sophia  where 
men  were  being  treated  for  gunshot  wounds.  They  offered 
each  sufferer  cigarettes  and  flowers.  Both  were  gladly 
accepted,  but  dear  as  is  the  cigarette  the  flowers  seemed 
still  more  welcome.  One  poor  fellow,  who  had  already  had  a 
leg  amputated,  clutched  at  the  wallflowers  offered,  and  with 
sparkling  eyes  smelled  them  and  then  pointed  to  a  glass  of 
water.  Instead  of  drinking  it  he  placed  the  flowers  in  it* 
and  would  not  allow  the  glass  to  be  taken  from  him.  All 
cherished  the  flowers,  and  thanked  Allah  for  sending  them. 
Many  stories  were  current  at  the  time  with  reference  to 
Turkish  as  well  as  European  ladies  visiting  the  hospitals  for 
the  first  time. 

A  commission  was  chosen  to  examine  Yildiz  Kiosk 
after  the  deposed  Sultan  had  been  sent  away.  Report 
credited  Abdul  Hamid  with  having  collected  enormous 
sums  of  money.  His  bank-book  shewed  that  he  had 
nearly  two  millions  deposited  at  the  Deutsche  Bank. 
£275,000  was  found  in  cash,  together  with  large  stores  of 
diamonds  and  precious  stones,  ornaments  of  silver  and  gold, 
and  hundreds  of  cigarette-cases.  A  large  number  of  bags, 
each  containing  £100  in  money,  and  totalling  £120,000,  were 
also  found.  But  the  most  important  find  at  Yildiz  was  of  an 
immense  quantity  of  what  are  locally  known  as  "  djournals," 
or  the  reports  of  spies.  On  the  first  day  four  waggon-loads 
of  them  were  taken  away  to  be  classified  and  numbered. 
One  of  the  ugly  features  of  the  examination  shewed  that 
several  of  the  reports  emanated  from  Turks  of  a  certain 
position  who  now  professed  to  be  supporters  of  the  Com- 
mittee, and  had  been  really  traitors  to  it. 

Further  examination  shewed  that  many  persons  had  been 


302      FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

tempted  by  Abdul  Hamid's  gold  to  act  as  his  agents,  and  the 
general  belief  is  that  the  examination  ceased  because,  had  it 
continued,  the  number  of  spies  would  have  been  found  to  be 
so  great  as  seriously  to  lessen  those  who  were  willing  and  had 
been  supporting  the  Committee.  The  Committee  itself 
was  seriously  affected  by  the  reports  which  had  come  in  from 
CiHcia,  and  seemed  to  fear  that  a  belief  should  exist  that 
they  wished  to  cover  up  the  atrocities  committed  there  and 
to  leave  their  authors  unpunished.  Ferid  Pasha,  who  had 
now  become  Minister  of  the  Interior,  appeared  to  be  desirous 
of  getting  at  the  truth,  and  supported  the  demands  of  Sir 
Gerard  Lowther  and  Mr.  Leishman,  the  American  Ambas- 
sador, for  that  purpose.  We  learnt  after  the  dethronement 
of  Abdul  Hamid  that  these  demands  had  produced  an  excellent 
effect  in  Anatolia.  A  further  massacre  had  been  arranged 
to  take  place  in  that  part  of  the  empire  on  April  28,  when  the 
firing  of  a  hundred  and  one  guns  announced  the  accession  of 
Mahomet  V. 

A  few  days  after  the  official  examination  of  Yildiz  the 
palace  and  gardens  were  opened  to  public  inspection.  I 
visited  them  in  company  with  Sir  Bampfylde  Fuller,  and  was 
struck  with  the  peculiar  mixture  of  tawdriness  and  mag- 
nificence. Each  portion  of  the  garden  had  been  and  was 
under  the  charge  of  a  man  who  was  at  once  gardener  and 
spy.  All  to  whom  I  spoke  declared  that  beyond  a  small 
section  of  the  garden  they  knew  nothing.  The  system  of 
espionage  outside  was  carried  out  thoroughly  throughout 
the  buildings  and  estate.  My  companion  remarked  that 
the  general  arrangement  of  the  garden,  zoological  depart- 
ment, and  buildings  reminded  him  of  what  he  had  often 
seen  in  the  gardens  of  native  Indian  princes. 

It  was  judged  necessary  by  the  Committee  to  hang  some 
of  the  reactionary  leaders  in  Constantinople.  A  military 
court  was  constituted  to  try  them,  and  a  proposed  general 
amnesty  was  held  over  until  the  courts-martial  had  com- 
pleted their  task.  Nadir  Agha,  the  Chief  Eunuch  in  the 
service  of  the  Sultan,  was  one  of  the  first  who  was  hanged. 
On  the  next  day,  Sunday,  thirteen  suffered  the  same  fate. 


COMMITTEE  OF  UNION  AND  PROGRESS   303 

Hanging  among  the  Turks  takes  place  in  public.  The 
bodies  were  kept  suspended  for  eight  hours,  and  were  thus 
seen  by  enormous  crowds.  Most  of  the  offenders  were 
young,  but  they  included  a  white-bearded  major  and  twelve 
non-commissioned  officers.  All  had  taken  an  active  part  in 
the  rising  of  April  13.  Naturally  I  went  to  see  some  of  the 
men  who  were  hanging.  The  gallows  resembled  gypsy 
tripods  on  a  large  scale.  They  were  rigged  up  with  a  pulley 
and  tackle,  and  the  bodies  hung  about  three  feet  from  the 
ground.  They  had  placards  on  their  breasts  giving  their 
names,  regiments,  and  crimes.  I  may  remark  that,  contrary 
to  the  belief,  that  I  at  least  had  held,  that  the  cap  with  which 
an  English  murderer's  head  is  covered  at  the  moment  of 
execution  was  placed  there  to  hide  the  blackened  head,  I 
saw,  on  the  contrary,  that  the  effect  of  hanging  was  appar- 
ently to  draw  all  blood  from  the  head  and  render  it  abnorm- 
ally white  and  deathUke. 

The  leading  members  of  the  Committee  of  Union  and 
Progress  paid  a  visit  to  France  and  England  in  the  autumn 
of  1909.  Two  influential  members  had  previously  visited 
this  country.  One  was  Riza  Tewfik  and  the  other  a  Chris- 
tian Syrian  Arab,  named  Bistani  effendi.  Both  these  are 
remarkable  men.  Both  are  scholars.  Riza  was  known  in 
the  Chamber  of  Deputies  as  the  Philosopher.  I  have  rarely 
known  a  man  of  any  nationality  who  looked  on  questions 
with  more  detachment  than  he,  whether  such  questions 
regarded  politics,  theology,  or  philosophy.  He  would  discuss 
the  ethics  of  Christianity  as  many  of  my  readers  have 
probably  heard  Japanese  scholars  discuss  them,  without 
reverence  or  acceptation,  but  academically,  and  without 
indication  of  a  shadow  of  prejudice.  I  remember  his 
speaking  with  me  on  the  question  of  the  Trinity,  and  he  at 
once  condemned  the  unphilosophic  attitude  of  Moslems  who 
were  unable  to  distinguish  between  persons  and  personalities. 
Of  course  I  had  to  admit  that  the  latin  persona  only  clumsily 
expressed  the  intention  of  the  authors  of  the  Christian 
creeds.  He  was  the  only  professing  Moslem  whom  I  ever 
met  who  did  not  see  any  philosophical  objection  to  the  Triune 


304      FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

conception  of  Deity.  Indeed,  it  is  usually  a  surprise  to 
Moslems  when  they  leam  that  the  most  distinctive  creed 
recited  in  all  the  great  historical  churches,  at  least  once  on 
every  Sunday,  begins  with  the  assertion,  "  I  beUeve  in  one 
God."  It  is  always  a  delight  to  discuss  matters  with  so 
learned,  thoughtful,  and  detached  a  scholar  as  Riza  Tewfik. 

His  companion  on  that  occasion,  Bistani  effendi,  is  a 
devout  Catholic,  a  Maronite  Catholic.  He  was  educated,  I 
beUeve,  at  the  Roman  Catholic  schools  in  Beyrout,  for  the 
Maronites  are  in  imion  with  Rome,  and  possesses  not  merely 
great  Uterary  abiUty  but  has  produced  valuable  works.  His 
translation  of  Homer  into  Arabic  is  very  highly  appreciated 
by  the  few  who  are  familiar  with  both  languages.  He  has 
produced  an  Arabic  encyclopedia,  which  is  far  and  away  the 
best  which  exists.  To  me  he  was  always  an  interesting 
scholar.  Turkey  has  a  superabimdance  of  religious  com- 
munities, and  I  agree  with  a  distinguished  Roman  prelate 
who  spent  many  years  in  the  country,  that  there  is  no 
heresy  which  has  ever  appeared  in  the  Christian  Church 
which  has  not  its  representatives  at  this  time  in  some  portion 
of  the  Turkish  empire.  The  subject  has  always  had  special 
interest  for  me,  and  on  various  occasions  I  have  applied  to 
Bistani  for  explanations  as  to  the  tenets  of  certain  obscure 
sects,  and  have  never  found  his  information  wanting. 

The  deputation  from  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  and  the 
Senate  was  well  received  in  England.  I  was  on  the  reception 
committee,  and  was  present  at  a  lunch  given  them  by  the 
Government.  Sir  Edward  Grey  gave  them  a  cordial 
welcome,  and  Talaat  Bey  and  another,  whose  name  I  forget, 
repUed.  The  demonstration  was  useful  as  emphasising  the 
fact  that  our  country  sympathised  with  the  efforts  of  the 
Young  Turkey  Party  in  endeavouring  to  govern  Turkey  on 
constitutional  lines.  After  the  lunch  Talaat  Bey  and  I, 
with  two  other  deputies,  attended  and  spoke  at  a  meeting 
of  the  Balkan  Committee. 

At  a  later  period  Javad  Bey,  the  Minister  of  Finance, 
came  to  England.  At  that  time  the  influence  of  our  country 
in  Turk^  had  begim  to  wane,  while  that  of  Germany, 


COMMITTEE  OF  UNION   AND   PROGRESS    305 

represented  at  Constantinople  by  Baron  Marschall  von 
Bieberstein,  was  steadily  on  the  increase.  Javad  was  sup- 
posed to  be  the  ablest  financier  that  Turkey  possessed, 
and,  judging  from  his  public  utterances,  had  conceived  the 
idea  that  the  great  States  of  Europe  were  eager  to  advance 
any  money  he  wished.  He  went  to  Paris,  having  made 
certain  arrangements  before  he  left  with  a  firm  of  Jewish 
bankers  whom  he  beUeved  to  be  all-powerful  in  that  city. 
The  institution  which  had  hitherto  acted  for  the  Govern- 
ment was  the  Ottoman  Bank,  and  Javad,  when  he  went  to 
Paris,  is  believed  to  have  had  in  his  pocket  a  cut-and-dried 
arrangement  with  a  group  of  Jewish  bankers.  He  called  on 
the  representatives  of  the  Ottoman  Bank  in  Paris  and 
treated  them  in  a  very  cavaher  way.  His  manners  ought  to 
have  indicated  to  the  Young  Turkey  Party  that  he  was  not 
the  man  to  send  to  a  European  capital. 

There  were  many  stories  of  his  conduct  in  that  city  which, 
if  true,  do  not  tell  in  his  favour  as  a  conciliatory  statesman. 
One  is  that  he  went  to  see  the  Premier,  who  made  the 
remark  that  he  supposed  that  he  had  come  with  the  object 
of  obtaining  a  loan.  Javad's  reported  answer  was,  "  Nothing 
of  the  kind.  I  am  here  simply  for  pleasure."  Three  or  four 
hours  afterwards  he  called  on  the  Minister  of  Finance  and 
immediately  began  speaking  of  a  loan,  whereupon  the 
Minister  repHed,  "  The  Premier  has  just  informed  me  that 
you  are  not  here  for  a  loan  but  simply  for  pleasure."  Javad 
answered,  "  Oh,  I  was  not  going  to  tell  him  what  my  business 
was."  Upon  this  the  Minister  pointed  out  that  if  he  thought 
French  Ministers  did  not  trust  each  other  he  was  making  a 
great  mistake.  He  soon  found  that  the  group  with  whom 
he  had  negotiated  could  not  do  the  business,  and  he  crossed 
over  to  England,  thinking  that  with  the  powerful  aid  of  Sir 
Ernest  Cassel  he  could  readily  do  it  there.  Sir  Ernest  had 
been  invited  to  form  a  bank  which  would  be  entitled  to  call 
itself  the  National  Bank  of  Turkey,  and  he  had  formed  it. 
On  the  morning  when  the  newspapers  announced  that  Javad 
was  crossing  to  England  I  met  an  EngHshman  of  great 
authority  on  such  questions  who  at  once  said,  "  Javad  will 

X 


3o6       FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

not  receive  a  penny  in  England."  Nor  did  he.  Since  then 
Javad  has  continued  to  be  a  prominent  member  of  the 
Committee,  but  his  influence  is  greatly  diminished. 

During  1910  and  1911  the  Committee  continued  its  work, 
but  made  a  series  of  grave  blunders.  In  the  spring  of 
191 1  Hakki  Pasha  was  Grand  Vizier.  He  had  been  the 
representative  of  Turkey  in  Italy,  and  is  a  statesman  who 
takes  politics  very  coolly.  In  certain  respects  he  reminded 
me  of  the  late  Mr.  Henry  Labouchere,  especially  in  his 
power  of  considering  questions  as  if  he  were  an  outsider. 
He  speaks  English  well,  and  with  the  exception  of  the 
present  Grand  Vizier,  Said  Halim,  is  the  only  Turkish 
statesman  who  can  do  so.  He  had  been  the  Turkish 
Commissioner  at  the  Chicago  Exhibition,  and  made  a  useful 
reputation  there.  He  always  gave  me  the  impression,  and 
I  have  known  him  fairly  well  for  many  years,  that  he  cared 
little  whether  he  was  in  office  or  not,  but  being  in  office 
would  examine  every  question  carefully  and  impartially. 
In  the  spring  of  1911  Javad,  the  Minister  of  Finance,  gave 
in  his  resignation  to  Hakki,  which,  after  some  hesitation, 
was  accepted. 

The  extreme  members  of  the  Committee  were  still  engaged 
upon  their  work  of  Turkifying  everything,  and  this  led 
them  into  many  grave  blunders,  two  of  which  had  serious 
consequences.  The  Albanians  were  not  allowed  to  receive 
instruction  in  their  own  language,  but  only  in  Turkish. 
Even  in  respect  to  the  Arabs  the  proposal  was  made  to 
forbid  the  teaching  of  that  language.  The  struggle  ended 
in  permission  being  given  to  teach  it,  but  the  medium  of 
instruction  was  to  be  Turkish.  Now,  as  completely  as 
Hebrew  is  the  sacred  language  of  the  Jews,  so  is  Arabic  of 
Moslems.  Nothing  gave  greater  offence  to  the  Moslem 
party  than  the  giving  of  second  place  to  Arabic  in  Moslem 
schools.  The  result  was  that  there  arose  two  serious 
questions,  one  with  the  Albanians  and  the  other  with  the 
Arabs.  The  latter  question  soon  became  the  more  pressing. 
A  project  for  the  government  of  Yemen,  which  had  been  for 
years  in  a  state  of  revolt,  and  where  tens  of  thousands  of 


COMMITTEE  OF  UNION  AND   PROGRESS    307 

Turkish  soldiers  had  perished  from  the  heat  and  malaria  of 
the  country,  had  been  carefully  prepared  and  finally  ap- 
proved by  the  Government,  with  the  consent  of  the  Arab 
deputies.  Kiamil  Pasha,  when  Grand  Vizier,  had  taken 
great  interest  in  it.  His  successor,  Hilmi  Pasha,  had  also 
examined  it  and  approved.  The  Committee,  however,  now 
rejected  it,  always  acting  upon  their  determination  to  bring 
about  a  unification  of  language. 

Another  of  their  blunders  during  this  time  was  to  quarrel 
with  the  Greek  subjects  of  the  empire.  A  boycott  of  Greek 
ships,  shops,  and  merchandise  was  preached,  and  with  great 
success.  The  object,  however,  was  not  so  much  to  injure 
the  Greeks  of  the  kingdom  as  the  Greek  subjects  of  Turkey. 
General  discontent  was  also  increasing  in  the  army,  produced 
by  the  unification  idea.  Troops  were  sent  to  fight  Albanians 
who  revolted  at  being  forbidden  to  use  their  own  language. 
A  certain  Colonel  Sadyk  was  the  organiser  of  discontent. 
Hakki,  the  Grand  Vizier,  took  sides  with  those  who  wished 
to  arrest  Sadyk  and  put  him  on  his  trial  for  treason,  but 
Shevket,  who  knew  the  temper  of  the  troops  better  than 
Hakki,  recognised  that  it  would  be  dangerous  to  do  so,  the 
troops  being  unwilling  to  fire  on  their  Moslem  brethren  in 
Albania,  just  as  they  were  to  fire  on  the  dissatisfied  Arabs. 
The  struggle  became  so  severe  that  Hakki  threatened  to  take 
over  the  office  of  Minister  of  War  himself,  and  to  place 
Sadyk  under  a  court-martial.  Finally  the  matter  was 
arranged  by  a  compromise,  and  Sadyk  was  sent  to  Salonica. 

When  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  met  in  April,  191 1,  a 
struggle,  kept  more  or  less  secret,  went  on  between  the 
supporters  and  the  opponents  of  the  Committee.  It  was  soon 
evident  that  many  of  the  members  wished  to  get  rid  of 
Javad.  In  my  opinion  it  was  only  due  to  the  confidence 
that  Hakki  inspired  by  his  coolness  and  judgment  that  a 
successful  attempt  at  reaction  was  not  then  made.  By  the 
middle  of  May  all  Albania  was  ablaze.  The  Governor  of 
Scutari  had  proclaimed  a  Holy  War  against  the  Albanians, 
but  Moslem  opinion  forced  him  to  back  down  two  or  three 
days  afterwards.    Then,  on  the  suggestion  of  the  Committee, 


3o8       FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

the  Sultan  went  on  a  royal  progress  into  Macedonia  to  meet 
the  Albanians,  and  a  remarkable  religious  service  took  place, 
at  which  80,000  Albanians  were  present  on  the  Plain  of 
Kossovo  Pol,  before  the  famous  tomb  of  Murad  I.,  who  had 
been  assassinated  on  the  battlefield  in  1389. 

Of  course  in  the  midst  of  these  troubles  many  foohsh 
things  were  said  on  both  sides,  and  when  the  Christians  of 
Macedonia  complained  that  the  Committee's  Government 
had  already  abandoned  the  principle  of  equality,  a  noted 
Moslem  declared  that  such  concession  only  appUed  to 
Moslems.  Mr,  Noel  Buxton,  the  President  of  the  Balkan 
Committee,  which  continued  to  do  much  useful  work  at  this 
time,  first  by  shewing  its  sympathy  with  the  Young  Turkey 
movement,  and  secondly  by  fearlessly  exposing  its  blunders, 
met  the  Committee  at  Salonica,  and  shewed  them  a  great 
number  of  newspaper  cuttings  giving  so  many  and  detailed 
accoimts  of  oppression  to  which  Christians  were  subject  as 
to  make  them  declare  that  they  were  no  better  ofi  than 
under  Abdul  Hamid,  and  finished  by  declaring  that  if  they 
did  not  abandon  this  method  of  government  they  would 
lose  all  British  sympathy. 

Shortly  afterwards  Riza  Tewfik,  the  Philosopher,  told  the 
Chamber  of  Deputies  that  he  had  been  in  England  and  other 
Western  countries,  and  that  their  inhabitants  knew  more  of 
what  had  passed  in  Macedonia  than  did  the  members  of  the 
Chamber  themselves,  and  that  the  Turkification  of  the 
country  was  fast  aUenating  Western  friends.  The  greatest 
advantage  that  remained  from  the  Revolution,  and  one 
which,  but  for  unforeseen  circumstances,  might  have  worked 
the  regeneration  of  Turkey,  was  that  the  right  of  free 
discussion  continued  imimpaired. 

In  giving  an  account  of  the  events  of  1911  in  The  Con- 
temporary Review,  I  used  the  following  words  :  "  The  fact 
remains  that  we  (meaning  Englishmen)  had  a  unique 
opportunity  of  following  our  best  national  traditions  and 
to  some  extent  at  least  have  lost  it.  A  little  friendly 
guidance  without  the  slightest  attempt  at  interference  and 
an    attitude    of    sympathy   would    have    maintained   ot 


HAKKl    PASHA 


COMMITTEE   OF  UNION   AND   PROGRESS    309 

strengthened  our  position."  I  quote  them  as  part  of  a 
long  article  for  the  following  reason.  Having  to  visit 
Hakki  Pasha  on  a  matter  of  business,  and  with  a  col- 
league who  only  spoke  French,  after  we  had  discussed  it 
Hakki  turned  to  me  and,  speaking  in  English,  said,  "  I  have 
read  your  article  in  The  Contemporary."  I  asked  how 
he  had  come  to  see  it,  and  he  informed  me  that  Sir  Gerard 
Lowther  had  lent  it  to  him.  Then,  remembering  how  severely 
I  had  criticised  the  Committee  for  its  many  and  serious 
blunders,  I  asked  him  candidly  what  he  thought  of  it.  His 
reply  was,  "  I  returned  it  to  Sir  Gerard  Lowther  with  the 
remark,  '  Sir  Edwin  criticises  us  very  severely  indeed,  but 
they  are  the  criticisms  of  a  friend.'  "  My  response  was  that 
I  could  not  have  wished  that  my  article  should  have  left  a 
better  impression  than  that.  I  believed  that  the  Committee 
was  on  the  right  track,  but  that  they  were  blundering  and 
required  a  good  deal  of  knocking  into  shape.  He  agreed, 
and  I  left. 

The  attempt  at  reaction  of  April  13,  1909,  and  the  mas- 
sacres in  Cilicia  marked  a  period  of  disorder  in  the  country. 
The  CoEMnittee  was  really  struggUng  for  its  life.  It  was 
divided  between  a  moderate  and  a  nationalist  section.  An 
attempt  was  made  at  the  organisation  of  the  moderates  in 
the  Chamber,  and  Damat  Ferid  Pasha  was  at  its  head. 
The  leader  was  a  man  of  a  refinement  and  culture  quite 
exceptional  among  the  Turks.  I  think  I  should  be  right  in 
stating  that  of  all  the  Turks  I  have  met  he  is  the  most  highly 
cultured.  He  may  be  taken  as  the  typical  Turkish  gentle- 
man. He  had  had  experience  in  France,  was  well  acquainted 
with  the  French  language  and  literature,  and  has  a  fair  know- 
ledge also  of  EngUsh.  The  moderate  and  thoughtful  element 
in  the  Turkish  nation  gathered  round  him,  and  under  him 
there  would  have  been  formed  a  respected  constitutional 
party  which  would  have  been  in  favour  of  progress,  and  would 
not  have  been  open  to  the  cry  that  they  were  enemies  of 
Islam. 

Suddenly  the  papers  informed  us  that  he  would  not 
continue  to  be  the  leader  of  the  moderate  party.    The 


310  FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 
general  belief  was  that  the  Chauvinistic  section  of  the  Com- 
mittee had  intimated  to  the  Sultan  that  it  was  not  conform- 
able to  the  dignity  of  a  member  of  the  imperial  family 
that  he  should  take  an  active  part  in  politics.  Much,  no 
doubt,  may  be  said  in  support  of  this  proposition.  But  his 
ceasing  to  be  the  head  of  the  party  had  a  disastrous  effect. 
It  threw  power  into  the  hands  of  the  Chauvinists.  He 
himself  was  good  enough  to  shew  me  a  long  extended 
programme  that  he  proposed  to  issue,  setting  forth  his 
opinions  on  what  changes  were  necessary  in  the  interest  of 
Turkey  and,  always  remembering  that  a  leader  has  to  be 
cautious  in  his  statements,  I  do  not  hesitate  to  say  that,  from 
the  Turkish  point  of  view,  it  would  have  been  difficult  to 
improve  upon. 

Meantime  many  changes  had  been  introduced  by  the 
Committee  and  much  useful  work  was  accomplished  in  the 
two  years  following  1909.  I  may  note  two  or  three.  The 
destruction  of  the  dogs  of  Constantinople  required  a  bold 
hand.  Visitors  to  the  city,  so  long  as  the  dogs  existed, 
usually  carried  away  a  vivid  impression  of  their  numbers. 
Generally  speaking,  they  appeared  all  to  belong  to  the  same 
breed.  They  were  usually  fox-coloured  and  foxy  in  appear- 
ance. They  swarmed  in  all  quarters  of  the  city,  but,  of  late 
years,  especially  where  Europeans  lived,  the  explanation 
being  that  there  they  were  treated  with  more  humanity 
than  in  the  native  quarters.  When  a  bitch  had  pups, 
some  kindly  soul  would  put  a  box  out  in  the  street  with  a 
little  straw  and  would  bring  daily  food  to  the  pups,  who 
were  really  very  pretty  and  interesting  little  beasts.  I 
regret  to  say  that  they  usually  suffered  cruel  treatment  from 
the  Greeks.  Neither  Turks  nor  Armenians  are  cruel  to 
animals,  and  I  have  often  been  interested  at  the  kindness 
with  which  members  of  these  races  have  treated  them. 

Having  occasion  one  evening  diuing  an  exceptionally  cold 
winter  to  go  into  my  kitchen,  which  was  outside  the  house, 
I  was  surprised  to  find  a  donkey  there  belonging  to  my  Uttle 
daughter.  The  explanation  given  was  that  the  stable  was 
too  cold.    On  the  other  hand,  over  and  over  again  I  have 


COMMITTEE  OF  UNION  AND  PROGRESS    311 

seen  street  dogs  kicked  and  struck  by  Greek  boys,  and  few 
thought  it  well  to  protest.  The  dogs  themselves  were 
rarely  savage,  and  were  always  amenable  to  kindness.  I 
remember  that  from  my  own  house  a  boy  of  six  or  seven 
went  out  every  morning  with  his  little  arms  full  of  morsels 
of  bread.  He  would  be  immediately  surrounded  by 
twenty  to  thirty  dogs,  being  all  of  that  neighbourhood. 
He  would  distribute  the  bread  among  them,  and  if  any 
animal  shewed  himself  too  eager  to  snatch  a  piece,  he  would 
hit  it  on  the  nose  without  any  fear.  I  was  often  afraid  on 
his  account,  not  of  the  dogs  or  any  of  them  attacking  him 
or  injuring  him  intentionally,  but  that  in  their  eagerness 
to  snatch  the  bread  they  might  accidentally  bite  his  fingers. 
This,  however,  never  happened. 

During  those  days  the  same  boy  became  possessed  of  a 
fluffy  Maltese  Spaniel  pup.  Now,  the  rule  amongst  the 
dogs  was  that  no  animal  not  free  of  their  quarter  should  pass 
through  their  territory  without  being  attacked.  He  there- 
fore took  the  pup  in  his  arms,  distributed  his  bread  as 
usual,  and  the  dogs  came  round,  smelt  the  pup,  and  evi- 
dently made  him  free  of  the  confraternity.  From  that  time 
he  was  allowed  to  go  into  the  streets  and  could  roam  amongst 
the  dogs  as  he  wished.  On  one  occasion  he  passed  the 
boundary  line  which  by  canine  consent  existed  around  their 
quarter.  Immediately  he  was  attacked  by  the  dogs  of  the 
quarter  beyond  the  line.  He  set  up  a  cry  of  distress,  and  at 
once  all  the  dogs  in  our  quarter  rushed  to  his  aid,  and  he 
returned  within  his  boundaries  triumphantly. 

While  on  the  subject,  let  me  tell  another  dog  story.  It 
has  happened  during  two  or  three  winters  that  cold  weather 
has  driven  wolves  down  to  Constantinople  from  the  high 
lands  of  Thrace  and  the  Rhodope.  I  saw  one  which  had 
been  shot  a  few  hours  previously  near  Ortakewi.  A  small 
pack  of  them  arrived  in  the  neighbourhood  of  San  Stefano. 
In  that  village  there  were  three  dog  quarters,  and  the 
villagers  said  that  they  were  more  given  to  quarrelling 
amongst  themselves  than  usual.  When  the  wolves  appeared, 
however,  they  joined  forces  and  drove  away  and  dispersed 


312       FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

the  pack,  killing  several  of  the  beasts,  and  then  returned  to 
San  Stefano  to  resume  their  quarrels. 

I  have  said  that  I  never  knew  them  attack  a  man.  I 
have  passed  alone  many  times  through  dozens  of  them,  and 
although  in  some  quarters  they  would  bark  at  the  presence 
of  a  stranger,  or  of  a  man  not  wearing  the  fez,  I  was  never 
attacked  nor  have  I  ever  heard  a  trustworthy  account  of 
anyone  who  was.  If  a  dog  rushed  towards  a  man  the  mere 
pretext  of  picking  up  a  stone  would  probably  send  him  off 
howling.  Nevertheless,  the  multiplicity  of  dogs  was  a 
nuisance.  Mark  Twain  tells  the  story  of  seeing  in  Con- 
stantinople, in  the  most  crowded  street,  a  dog  lying  asleep 
right  across  the  principal  pavement,  and  hundreds  of  people 
going  out  of  their  way  so  as  not  to  disturb  him.  In  reality 
that  was  an  ordinary  daily  sight.  As  to  their  being  useful 
scavengers,  that  is  simply  rubbish.  They  caused  infinitely 
more  filth  than  they  removed,  and  the  city  having  already 
organised  the  means  of  collecting  dust  and  rubbish,  there 
was  no  pretence  of  their  being  of  use. 

Accordingly  the  decree  went  forth  that  they  should  be 
destroyed,  and  to  our  astonishment  it  was  carried  out 
strictly  and  effectively,  but  in  a  manner  which  to  Europeans 
was  peculiarly  cruel.  They  were  collected  at  night,  placed 
in  rubbish  carts  which  were  closed  with  iron  lids,  then  put 
aboard  a  lighter  from  whence  they  could  not  escape,  and 
shipped  down  to  a  waterless  island  about  eight  miles  from  the 
city,  named  Oxyaea.  When  the  lighter  arrived  near  the 
island  the  dogs  gladly  leaped  into  the  water,  in  order  to 
reach  the  land.  There  they  were  allowed  to  die  of  thirst. 
This  process  went  on  for  three  weeks  or  a  month.  Three  or 
four  of  my  friends  went  in  their  yachts  or  steam-launches  to 
look  at  the  animals  on  shore,  and  the  stories  they  told  were 
very  gruesome.  The  new  arrivals  would  be  set  upon  by  the 
others  to  drink  their  blood.  However,  they  perished,  and 
the  story  of  the  Constantinople  dogs  came  to  an  end. 

The  Committee  deserves  credit  also  for  changing  the  mode 
of  reckoning  time.  The  Turkish  method  was  to  call  sunset 
twelve  o'clock.     In  December  this  would  be  as  early  as 


COMMITTEE  OF  UNION  AND   PROGRESS    313 

4.30  p.m.  by  Eiiropean  method ;  in  June  7.40  p.m.  No 
watch  could  ever  keep  correct  time,  and  there  was  general 
relief  when  zenith  time,  i.e.,  twelve  o'clock  at  noon,  was 
substituted.  The  only  persons  who  objected  were  a  few 
old  Moslems,  who  declared  that  they  never  knew  when  the 
hour  for  sunset  prayer  had  arrived. 

Let  us  turn  to  a  more  important  subject.  Three  great 
fires  in  Stambul,  during  the  three  years  following  the  Revolu- 
tion of  July,  1908,  destroyed  several  thousands  of  houses. 
Constantinople  has  at  all  times  been  liable  to  great  fires. 
It  has  no  good  building  material.  The  small  supply  of  good 
clay  in  the  neighbourhood  was  used  up  centuries  ago.  The 
old  Byzantine  bricks,  though  better  than  any  that  are  made 
now  in  or  near  the  city,  are  thin,  and  when  placed  in  a  wall  are 
between  double  the  thickness  of  mortar  or  cement,  the 
cement  itself  being  harder  than  the  brick.  No  building 
stone  with  lamination  or  split  in  it  exists  in  the  neighbour- 
hood. It  is  true  that  marble  is  found  in  great  quantity  in 
the  island  which  has  given  its  name  to  the  Sea  of  Marmara, 
but  its  working  must  always  be  too  costly  to  bring  it  into 
general  use.  Hence  through  all  its  history  wood  has  been 
the  usual  material  for  construction. 

A  terrible  fire  took  place  in  Pera  in  1871  or  1872,  and  when 
I  arrived  in  the  city  a  large  district  in  it  had  been  burnt 
down,  the  fire  commencing  at  the  Taxim  and  extending  to 
and  destroying  the  roof  of  the  British  Embassy.  Thereupon 
orders  were  issued  that  no  wooden  buildings  should  be 
erected  in  Pera.  The  order  was  obeyed,  with  the  result 
that  that  portion  of  the  city  has  no  more  fires  than  a  similar 
area  would  present  in  an  English  city.  But  in  Stambul, 
largely  on  account  of  the  poverty  of  the  Turks,  wooden 
buildings  were  renewed,  and  in  one  of  the  fires  in  question  a 
conflagration  commenced  on  the  side  of  the  Golden  Horn 
not  far  from  the  landward  wall,  and  burnt  its  way  over  a 
wide  track  right  away  to  the  Marmara,  clearing  away  some 
hundreds  of  houses  and  leaving  thousands  of  persons  home- 
less. 

The  other  two  fires  I  have  alluded  to  were  almost  equally 


314       FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

extensive  and  destructive.  I  have  walked  over  the  burnt 
districts  many  times  and  with  many  archaeological  friends, 
because  we  soon  found  that  places  which  we  had  read  of  and 
had  not  been  able  to  identify  had  now,  in  their  stony  strength, 
survived  this  and  doubtless  other  conflagrations  and 
gave  ms  the  information  we  wanted.  The  aspect  of  Stambul 
even  now  in  many  parts  reminds  me  strikingly  of  Pompeii. 
The  fierceness  of  the  fire  burnt  up  every  particle  of  wood 
without  leaving  any  black  or  charred  remains  whatever.  Iron 
girders  were  twisted,  and  one  sees  the  usual  vagaries  of  great 
fires.  A  house  would  remain  standing  when  everything 
around  it  had  perished.  I  should  think  that  at  the  present 
time  at  least  one-fifth  of  Stambul  is  in  ruins  from  the  fires. 
There  is  no  reason  to  beUeve  that  either  of  the  three 
fires  was  due  to  incendiaries,  but  they  gave  the  city  a  chance 
which  previous  fires  had  no  doubt  often  afforded  to  their 
predecessors.  The  Young  Turks  were  more  vigorous  in 
their  action.  They  saw  that  there  was  a  chance  of  replan- 
ning  the  burnt  quarters,  and,  above  all,  of  laying  down  a 
system  of  drainage.  Before  I  went  to  Constantinople  I 
paid  a  visit  to  Sir  Robert  Rawlinson,  a  distinguished  engineer 
who  had  many  stories  to  tell  of  the  time  when  he  was  sent 
by  our  Govermnent  during  the  Crimean  war  to  improve  the 
sanitary  arrangements  in  the  barracks  near  Constantinople. 
He  told  of  his  visiting  the  largest  barracks,  the  Selimieh,  and 
of  finding  the  stench  so  horrible  that  he  was  not  surprised 
at  the  terrible  rate  of  mortality  amongst  our  troops  who  were 
there  in  hospital.  He  began  by  giving  orders  to  break  open 
every  window,  and  then  smashed  the  drains  which  led  from 
the  baurracks  into  the  Bosporus.  The  local  doctors  pro- 
tested, but  he  had  full  power,  and  within  a  fortnight  had 
greatly  reduced  the  rate  of  mortahty.  He  told  me  that  he 
would  like  to  be  sent  to  Constantinople  again  in  order  to 
draw  up  a  plan  for  the  drainage  of  the  city,  "  For,"  said  he, 
"  no  place  I  was  ever  in  lent  itself  so  easily  to  perfect 
drainage,  and  no  place  is  so  badly  drained."  The  Young 
Turks,  to  their  credit  be  it  said,  called  in  the  best  engineers 
they  could  find,  and  drew  up  a  general  plan  of  drainage  for 


COMMITTEE  OF  UNION  AND   PROGRESS    315 

Stambul  and  laid  down  drains  in  the  streets  which  they  had 
planned  for  the  burnt  quarters. 

While  on  the  subject  of  fires,  I  may  mention  an 
interesting  piece  of  work  with  which  I  was  charged  by 
Sir  Nicholas  O'Conor.  Constantinople  being  so  Hable  to 
fires,  it  was  natural  that  there  should  be  a  great  many  fire 
insurance  companies.  Twenty  of  these  were  British.  Some 
excellent  French  companies  also  existed,  as  well  as  Swiss, 
German,  and  Austrian.  The  respectable  companies  of 
various  nationalities  formed  what  they  called  a  Fire  Com- 
mittee to  defend  the  interests  of  their  companies.  I  was  the 
legal  adviser  of  this  group.  Many  disputes  had  arisen  with 
the  Government,  and  absurd  decisions  had  been  given  in  the 
law  courts,  due  partly  to  sheer  ignorance  of  law,  and  partly 
also  to  the  desire,  not  uncommon  amongst  ignorant  men,  to 
throw  the  burden  of  a  loss  by  fire  upon  a  wealthy  company 
without  regard  either  to  the  provisions  of  the  policy  or  to 
common  sense  and  justice. 

Sometimes  difiiculties  arose  from  the  defects  of  Turkish 
law  itself.  For  example,  in  the  case  of  life  insurance,  where 
the  heir  of  a  person  insured  claimed  a  sum  considerably 
larger  than  he  was  entitled  to,  the  company  offered  a 
reasonable  amount,  which  was  refused.  The  president  of 
the  court,  an  exceptionally  able  and  kindly  judge,  mentioned 
privately  to  the  Enghsh  Dragoman,  who  always  formed  an 
essential  part  of  the  court  in  "  mixed  cases  " — that  is,  in 
cases  between  Ottoman  and  foreign  subjects — that  he  was 
convinced  that  life  insurance  was  contrary  to  Islamic  law, 
and  that  in  private  conversation  with  a  Moslem  of  eminence 
the  latter  expressed  himself  very  strongly  on  the  subject. 
The  Dragoman  and  I  discussed  the  matter,  and  having 
arrived  at  the  conclusion  that  such  a  decision  would  create 
great  confusion  in  all  the  Life  offices  in  the  city,  it  was  agreed 
that  I  should  see  the  advocate  on  the  other  side  and  en- 
deavour to  arrange  the  matter  out  of  court.    This  was  done. 

To  this  hom:,  however,  the  question  as  to  whether  life 
insurance  is  lawful  or  not  has  never  been  settled  in  a  Turkish 
court.    The  position  taken  up  is  very  much  that  which  was 


3i6      FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

submitted  two  centuries  ago  in  England,  namely,  that  each 
insurance  is  a  bet  and  of  the  nature  of  gambling.  The 
contention  is  true,  but  of  course  other  considerations  have 
to  be  examined  in  order  to  shew  that  it  is  in  the  interest  of 
the  public  that  such  operations,  whether  bets  or  not,  should 
be  regarded  as  lawful. 

It  was,  however,  in  reference  to  fire  insurances  that  we 
had  the  most  trouble  with  the  Government.  Under  the 
Vizierat  of  Fend  Pasha  a  commission  was  named  to  draw 
up  a  new  law  on  the  subject.  After  some  months 
the  law  appeared  and  was  at  once  passed  over  to  me  for 
examination.  I  found  it  a  mass  of  blunders  from  beginning 
to  end,  blunders  so  gross  that  every  respectable  fire  insur- 
ance company  then  working  in  Turkey  would  have  closed 
its  office  rather  than  consent  to  work  under  it.  I  am 
depending  upon  my  memory  and  therefore  cannot  quote 
many  of  the  absurdities  in  the  law.  One,  however,  was  that 
if,  during  a  fire,  neighbouring  buildings  were  pulled  down 
by  the  police  or  ordinary  firemen  to  prevent  its  spreading, 
the  company  should  support  the  damage  caused  to  such 
neighbouring  buildings  whether  they  were  insured  or  not. 
Another  was  that  the  amount  mentioned  in  the  policy  of 
assurance  was  the  amount  that  the  company  would  have  to 
pay  without  any  provision  for  the  case  when  goods  had  been 
removed  or  that  the  goods  or  house  did  not  possess  such  a 
value.  I  subsequently  learnt  that  it  had  been  drawn  up  by 
two  of  the  legal  advisers  of  the  Porte,  carefully,  though  some- 
what stringently,  as  regards  the  insurance  offices,  but  that 
it  had  been  sent  to  various  heads  of  departments  who  had 
added  whatever  clause  they  liked  without  regard  to  the 
assurers. 

Sir  Nicholas  O'Conor  sent  the  draft  of  the  new  law 
down  to  me  to  examine  on  behalf  of  British  companies,  I 
informed  the  secretary  who  brought  it  that  it  ought  never 
to  be  accepted  by  the  British  Embassy,  and  expressed 
myself  so  strongly  on  the  matter  that  he  requested  that  I 
would  see  Sir  Nicholas  rather  than  that  he  should  take  the 
message.    I  accordingly  drove  up  to  the  Embassy,  when  Sir 


COMMITTEE  OF  UNION  AND  PROGRESS    317 

Nicholas  informed  me  that  he  had  promised  the  Grand 
Vizier  that  he  would  give  him  an  answer  the  following  day, 
whether  the  British  Embassy  would  accept  it  or  desired 
modifications.  I  argued  that  it  was  simply  impossible  to 
accept  it ;  that  it  was  a  blow  struck  at  every  foreign  in- 
surance company  doing  business  in  the  country.  Sir 
Nicholas  replied  that  he  had  promised  to  return  it  with  the 
articles  objected  to,  and  begged  that  I  would  go  through  it 
with  one  of  his  secretaries  and  mark  out  the  articles  to  which 
I  objected.  My  reply  was  that  I  was  ready  to  do  so,  but  I 
gave  fair  notice  that  at  least  two-thirds  of  the  articles  must 
come  out.  He  said  that  was  my  business,  and  accordingly 
I  struck  them  out. 

Once  more,  however,  in  the  absence  of  Sir  Nicholas,  the 
attempt  was  made  to  get  practically  the  same  law  adopted, 
and  through  a  mistake  I  was  not  informed  of  the  matter 
until  the  Charge  d' Affaires  had  sent  the  project  on  to  the 
Foreign  Office  with  a  general  approval.  As  soon  as  I  heard 
of  the  fact  I  immediately  went  to  see  him  and  explained  the 
position.  It  was  the  present  Sir  George  Barclay.  After 
careful  discussion,  he  suggested  that  I  should  write  a  memo- 
randum on  the  matter,  which  he  would  at  once  transmit 
to  the  Board  of  Trade.  This  I  did,  and  there,  where  the 
matter  came  within  the  knowledge  of  people  who  knew 
something  of  Insurance  Law,  orders  were  at  once  sent 
disapproving  of  the  project  altogether. 

The  Committee  and  Government  turned  their  attention  to 
decentralisation.  The  task  was  an  extremely  difficult  one, 
because  they  recognised  that  if  the  Governor  of  a  province 
were  allowed  to  make  what  regulations  he  liked  for  the 
province,  one  of  his  first  thoughts  would  be  how  to  fill  his 
own  pockets.  It  had  been  so  and  was  so.  On  the  other 
hand,  with  the  object  of  getting  everything  under  the  control 
of  the  Sultan  and  of  his  Ministers,  and  also  of  preventing 
local  abuses,  laws  had  been  passed  which  so  crippled  the 
local  Governors  and  their  Coimcils  that  nothing  could  be 
done  for  the  good  of  the  province.  People  indeed  who  had 
vested  interests  would  go  to  town  and,  by  means  of  carefully 


3i8       FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

distributed  bribes,  would  block  any  system  of  local  roads  or 
other  improvements  until  their  opponents  offered  a  heavier 
bribe.  This  abuse  also  was  taken  in  hand  very  seriously  by 
the  Committee. 

The  usual  case  in  the  provinces  was  that  the  Governor 
was  occupied  in  feathering  his  own  nest,  and,  in  general,  no 
one  dared  to  interfere.  Under  such  conditions,  no  roads  or 
bridges  were  repaired,  nothing  was  done  in  the  way  of 
improvement,  and  the  condition  of  the  province  went  from 
bad  to  worse.  After  the  Revolution  several  improvements 
in  these  respects  followed.  Better  Governors  had  been 
named,  and  most  of  them  recognised  that  they  were  on  their 
good  behaviour.  The  danger  from  the  action  of  the  Com- 
mittee arose  from  their  trying  to  do  everything  themselves, 
to  keep  even  the  arrangements  of  detail  in  their  own  hands. 
Abdul  Hamid  had  tried  the  same  system  and  had  failed. 

The  new  Governors,  many  of  them  full  of  enthusiasm  for 
improvement,  prepared  plans  for  gendarmerie,  for  the  repair 
of  roads  and  bridges,  the  construction  of  railways,  drainage 
of  marshes,  and  a  hundred  other  improvements.  Many  such 
projects  were  sent  to  Constantinople  for  examination  and 
approval,  but  there  soon  came  from  the  provinces  notes  of  a 
widespread  feeling  that  there  was  as  much  difficulty  in 
getting  local  improvements  accomplished  as  under  the  old 
r^me.  Hence  the  recognition  that  decentralisation  was 
necessary.  Give  full  power,  it  was  said,  to  the  Governor 
and  his  local  Council,  and  hold  him  responsible  if  he  sanctions 
anything  in  the  province  which  is  opposed  to  the  general 
interest  of  the  empire.  Arrangements  were  being  carefully 
studied  with  the  object  of  settling  the  relations  between  the 
Central  Government  and  the  local  Governors  and  Council, 
when  the  coimter  Revolution  came. 

Perhaps  the  most  important  progress  made  during  the  two 
years  after  the  Revolution  was  in  the  development  of 
gendarmerie.  If  the  intervention  of  the  Powers  had 
produced  no  other  result  than  the  introduction  of  such  a 
system,  it  would  have  rendered  valuable  assistance  to  the 
country.    Even  before  the  Revolution  the  system  had  begun 


COMMITTEE  OF  UNION   AND   PROGRESS    319 

to  work  so  well  that,  by  common  consent  after  that  event, 
it  was  extended  to  other  parts  of  the  empire.  Schools  for 
the  training  of  gendarmes  were  established  at  Smyrna  and 
Beyrout,  upon  the  model  of  that  which  had  been  opened  in 
Salonica.  The  best-governed  districts  in  Macedonia,  I  am 
proud  to  say,  were  those  under  British  officers.  But 
throughout  the  country  after  the  Revolution  the  men  were 
taught  under  European  officers,  and  commanded  respect 
from  all  sections  of  the  population.  They  took  the  place  of 
the  zaptiehs,  and  in  various  places  there  was  considerable 
rivalry  between  the  old  and  new  forces.  Before  the  two 
years  had  passed,  the  population  in  general  had  given  a 
hearty  support  to  the  gendarmes  such  as  they  had  never 
given  to  the  zaptiehs.  They  really  assisted  the  authorities 
to  keep  order.  The  men  received  a  slightly  higher  pay  than 
the  soldiers  from  whom  they  were  selected,  and  thus  the 
service  got  the  best  men.  Under  the  old  system  the  zaptiehs 
were  the  riff-raff  of  the  army. 

A  new  spirit  seemed  to  have  come  into  the  employ^  of 
the  Turkish  Government,  one  which  struck  the  attention 
especially  of  old  residents  in  the  country.  The  gendarmes 
seemed  to  feel  that  they  existed  for  the  convenience  of  the 
public.  I  remember  in  June,  1910,  a  pleasant  incident  that 
occurred  to  me  in  a  remote  and  purely  Turkish  quarter  of 
Stambul.  The  genial  Professor  Knight  of  Aberdeen  was 
my  companion  on  a  visit  to  some  of  the  least-known  sites  in 
the  city,  and  was  as  enthusiastic  an  archaeologist  as  he  had 
been  thirty  years  earlier.  But  he  suddenly  broke  down 
from  fatigue.  I  hastened  to  find  him  a  seat,  when  a  gen- 
darme came  up,  fetched  water,  rendered  other  services,  and 
was  as  courteous  to  our  party  of  five  as  the  best  of  London 
policemen  could  have  been.  Almost  everybody  had  a 
similar  story  to  tell  of  willing  service  rendered. 

Real  reforms  were  accomplished  also  in  the  Customs 
House  by  the  Committee.  The  Government  wanted  an 
increase  of  customs  duties  of  three  per  cent,  during  the  time 
of  Sir  Nicholas  O'Conor.  Sir  Nicholas  refused  to  advise  his 
Government  to  consent  until  he  had  seen  a  serious  attempt 


320       FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

at  reorganising  the  Custom  House  service.  Happily  they 
secured  the  service  of  Mr.  (now  Sir)  Richard  Crawford,  who 
had  successfully  reorganised  the  like  service  in  Egypt. 
The  Committee  obtained  its  three  per  cent. 

Perhaps  the  most  notable  advance  to  be  signalised  during 
the  years  in  question  was  the  movement  for  the  education  of 
Turkish  women.  It  was  largely  spontaneous,  and  though 
regarded  with  sympathy  by  all  well-wishers  to  Turkey,  owes 
little  of  its  force  to  direct  foreign  influence.  When  "  hurriet ' ' 
was  proclaimed  for  men,  a  few  extremists  among  the  women 
wished  to  shew  that  they  also  were  now  emancipated. 
Some  went  as  far  as  to  discard  the  yashmak,  or  face- 
covering.  But  the  thoughtful  recognised  that  conven- 
tionalities must  be  respected  if  useful  reforms  were  to  be 
pressed  forward.  The  Turkish  idea  is  that  to  uncover  the 
face  in  presence  of  men  is  immodest.  The  few  women  who 
violated  this  sentiment  were  regarded  and  treated  as  EngUsh 
women  would  be  if  they  walked  down  Regent  Street  in  very 
low-necked  dresses.  The  reforms  sought  by  Turkish  women 
were  of  a  sensible  and  practical  character.  They  recognised 
that  their  great  want  was  education.  Classes  on  a  variety 
of  subjects  were  formed  by  the  women  themselves.  I 
received  much  information  from  my  lady  friends  of  these 
meetings.  The  social  conditions  under  which  Turkish  women 
live  cause  them  to  have  abundant  time  on  their  hands. 
There  is  an  enforced  inactivity  which  develops  among  the 
thoughtless  a  pernicious  idleness. 

Readers  of  Pierre  Loti's  book,  Les  DisenchanUes,  will  find 
a  vivid  description  of  Turkish  women.  As  a  fact,  however, 
the  women  described  were  only  half  Turkish.  I  discussed 
the  book  with  my  friend,  Hamdi  Bey,  and  share  his  opinion 
that  as  a  picture  of  Turkish  women's  life  it  is  essentially 
false.  Some  of  the  best  Ttukish  women  in  Constantinople 
have  received  instruction  in  American  or  EngUsh  schools,  and 
have  exerted  great  influence  for  good  amongst  their  fellow- 
women  in  the  capital  who  are  ignorant  of  any  foreign 
language. 

In  the  beginning  of  1909  Miss  Isabel  Fry  went  to  Turkey 


COMMITTEE  OF  UNION  AND  PROGRESS    321 

to  see  whether  she  could  render  any  assistance  to  the  move- 
ment for  women's  education.  She  met  a  considerable 
niraiber  of  the  leaders,  and  I  am  assured  from  many  sources, 
especially  by  ladies  who  knew  what  was  the  result  of  her 
work,  that  her  influence  was  extremely  valuable.  I  men- 
tioned in  1910  an  instance  of  the  useful  work  which  the 
stimulus  of  her  presence  had  produced.  A  weekly  class 
was  then  being  held  at  the  great  American  College  for  Girls 
at  Scutari  of  about  eighty  Turkish  women,  who  were 
studying  preventive  medicine,  the  sanitary  arrangements  of 
the  household,  the  management  of  children,  and  similar 
subjects  of  primary  importance  to  the  sex.  The  lecturers 
were  medical  men,  for  the  hakim  or  doctor  is  privileged,  and 
Turkish  women  may  attend  his  lecture  while  conventionaUty 
would  prevent  their  being  present  at  lectures  by  other  men. 
Turkey  had  travelled  over  a  very  difficult  road  before 
Turkish  women  could  meet  for  the  consideration  of  such 
subjects  and  willingly  receive  information  in  the  form  of 
lectures.  I  concluded  an  article  on  "  Developments  in 
Turkey  "  in  The  Contemporary  Review  of  June,  1910,  with 
the  remark  that  the  Government,  though  it  deserved 
criticism,  had  succeeded  in  improving  the  condition  of  the 
country,  and  was  "  the  best  Government  which  Turkey  has 
ever  had.  Its  faults  are  those  of  inexperience,  which  time 
will  cure." 


CHAPTER  XXI 

ANNEXATION  OF  BOSNIA  AND  HERZEGOVINA 

Prince  Ferdinand  declares  himself  King — Reorganisa- 
tion of  the  Turkish  Navy — ^Difl&culties  with  Albania — 
The  Balkan  League — Its  Successes — ^Dissensions — 
Mediation  of  the  Powers — Orthodox  and  Bulgarian 
Churches  Agree  for  Common  Action — My  Last  Inter- 
view with  Marschall  von  Bieberstein — Coup  d'etat — 
Assassination  of  Nazim  Pasha — ^Forced  Resignation  of 
Kiamil — ^Arrival  of  Sir  Louis  Mallet — Quarrel  between 
Bulgaria  and  Serbia — ^Assassination  of  Shevket  Pasha 
— British  ReUef  Committees  in  Constantinople. 

AFTER  the  Revolution  of  July,  igo8,  Austria,  who 
was  always  on  the  lookout  for  carrying  into 
execution  her  project  of  getting  to  the  Aegean, 
boldly  proclaimed  her  annexation  of  Bosnia  and  Herze- 
govina. I  have  mentioned  in  previous  pages  that  when 
Russia  in  April,  1877,  declared  war  upon  Turkey,  she  had 
already  made  a  secret  agreement  with  Austria,  by  which  she 
was  to  take  over  the  administration  of  these  provinces.  In 
doing  so  she  had  become  de  facto  ruler  over  them.  She  now 
declared  that  they  were  Austrian  territory. 

As  the  conduct  of  Austria  with  reference  to  Turkey  was 
throughout  the  years  that  had  elapsed  from  1877  to  1908  one 
long  attempt  to  keep  Macedonia  in  disorder  and  to  make 
Serbia  a  subservient  Austrian  province,  it  is  only  fair  that  I 
should  recognise  that  in  the  administration  of  the  annexed 
provinces,  especially  during  the  time  of  a  certain  Baron 
Kaiila,  she  had  governed  them  well.  The  Moslem  population 
had  stoutly  resisted,  but  had  been  fought  and  defeated,  and 
the  good  administration  that  ensued  converted  them  into 
loyal  Austrian  subjects.    As  those  who  have  travelled  much 

322 


ANNEXATION  OF  BOSNIA  AND  HERZEGOVINA   323 

in  Austria  know,  its  local  Government  is  grandmotherly, 
but  it  secures  order,  a  fair  amount  of  justice,  and  religious 
liberty.  Beyond  doubt  it  was  an  excellent  substitute  for 
Turkish  government. 

When  Austria's  declaration  was  known,  it  created  much 
ill  feeling  in  Turkey.  A  few  took  up  the  position,  for  which 
there  was  much  to  be  said,  that  the  change  was  merely 
nominal,  that  the  provinces  declared  to  be  Austrian  had  long 
been  governed  by  that  country,  and  that  the  question 
whether  they  were  called  Austrian  or  Turkish  mattered 
little.  I  remember  seeing  in  Vienna  a  regiment  from  the 
annexed  provinces,  the  men  wearing  the  fez  to  indicate  that 
they  still  belonged  to  Turkey.  But  those  who  had  spoken 
with  them  declared  that  they  were  well  satisfied  with  their 
new  masters. 

Following  the  example  of  the  Emperor  of  Austria,  Fer- 
dinand of  Bulgaria,  hitherto  styled  Prince,  and  acknow- 
ledging fealty  somewhat  ostentatiously  to  the  Sultan,  paid  a 
hasty  visit  to  Vienna  and  almost  contemporaneously  with 
the  decree  annexing  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina  declared 
himself  King.  This  again  increased  the  agitation  amongst 
the  Turks,  but  they  soon  had  other  and  more  important 
matters  to  occupy  their  attention. 

In  the  autumn  of  191 1  Italy  sent  an  ultimatum  to  Turkey 
declaring  her  intention  of  occupying  Tripoli,  and  on  October 
26  in  that  year  notified  to  the  Powers  her  annexation  of  that 
Turkish  province.  She  sent  an  army,  first  of  40,000  and 
then  of  100,000,  across  the  Mediterranean.  As  to  the  war 
itself,  little  need  be  said  here.  The  Italians  at  the  first  were 
far  from  successful.  Indeed,  the  impression  they  left  upon 
me  was  one  of  incompetence,  and  when  in  the  spring  of 
1915  there  was  a  question  of  their  going  to  war  with  Austria, 
I  made  a  remark  to  this  effect  to  an  Italian  soldier  whom  I 
knew  with  sufficient  intimacy  to  speak  with  confidentially. 
I  was  glad  to  be  assiired  by  him  that  while  I  was  right  in  my 
estimate  of  the  conduct  of  the  Tripolitaine  war,  it  had  served 
as  the  most  useful  lesson  to  the  Italians  that  they  had  ever 
received.    The  Treaty  of  Ouchy  which  brought  the  war 


324      FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

suddenly  to  an  end  was  followed  by  a  series  of  army  reforms, 
especially  among  the  Engineers  and  Gunners,  which  entirely 
remodelled  the  army.  Tripoli  was  acknowledged  by  Turkey 
to  belong  to  Italy,  and  thus  the  whole  series  of  provinces 
from  the  Red  Sea  to  the  Atlantic  which  had  once  acknow- 
I  edged  the  sway  of  the  Sultan  of  Turkey  had  passed  into 
foreign  hands.  While  it  is  true  that  the  Italians  had  not 
shone  as  victors,  they  certainly  did  better  than  the  Turks, 
though  of  course  the  command  of  the  sea  by  the  Italians 
gave  them  an  enormous  advantage. 

The  Turks  meantime  had  been  so  much  occupied  with  the 
internal  dissensions  arising  out  of  the  efforts  of  Young 
Turkey,  that  they  had  largely  neglected  their  army  organ- 
isation. Beyond  pouring  into  Tripoli  as  many  men  as  they 
could  get  there,  the  Turks  properly  so-called  made  a  poor 
show.  They  had,  however,  in  the  capital  taken  on  a  few 
more  German  officers.  As  the  Italians  commanded  the  sea 
the  Turks  now  recognised  that  they  had  continued  the 
blunder  of  Abdul  Hamid  in  neglecting  the  fleet.  They 
thereupon  naturally  determined  to  strengthen  it.  For  this 
purpose  they  applied  to  England,  which  sent  them  a  naval 
officer.  Admiral  Gamble,  who  was  given  a  high  command. 
He  worked  assiduously,  and  not  only  from  his  own  mouth, 
but  from  the  officers  and  men  under  him  I  learnt  that  he  was 
making  most  important  changes.  But  his  difficulties  were 
eaormous.  Officers  and  men  were  alike  untrained,  and  with 
lax  discipline.  Ships  were  sent  to  sea  without  provisions, 
and  Admiral  Gamble  was  attempting  to  undo  in  months  the 
neglect  of  many  years.  His  health  broke  down,  and  he  was 
succeeded  by  Admiral  Williams,  also  belonging  to  our  navy. 
He  also  did  much  to  improve  the  condition  of  the  Turkish 
fleet,  though  in  a  more  quiet  and  unobtrusive  way  than 
Gamble. 

Both  these  Admirals,  whom  I  knew  well,  had  their  hearts 
in  their  work.  They  spoke  with  enthusiasm  of  the  Turkish 
sailor,  whom  they  found  obedient,  willing  to  do  whatever  he 
was  asked,  and,  I  may  add,  absolutely  devoted  to  his  British 
chiefs.    When  Admiral  Williams  left,  during  the  year  1912, 


ANNEXATION  OF  BOSNIA  AND  HERZEGOVINA   325 

he  was  succeeded  by  Admiral  Limpus,  who  brought  with  him 
a  few  officers  and  set  about  a  systematic  reconstruction  of 
Admiralty  organisation.  That  the  Turkish  fleet  has  been 
able,  during  the  last  year,  to  make  a  respectable  show  is  due 
to  the  efforts  of  these  three  Englishmen,  and  to  none  more 
completely  than  to  Admiral  Limpus.  The  last  time  I  saw 
him  was  in  December,  1914,  in  Malta,  where  I  was  able  to 
discuss  with  him  and  his  wife  the  destruction  of  the  Mes- 
sudieh,  the  daring  feat  which  had  been  accomplished  by  a 
submarine  which  had  penetrated  the  Dardanelles  as  far  as 
Nagara  Point,  and  after  lying  at  the  bottom  for  eight  hours 
had  sunk  her,  the  Messudieh  being  specially  interesting  to  the 
family  of  the  Admiral  as  having  been  his  flagship. 

Serious  efforts  were  made  by  Hadji  Adil  Bey  to  reconcile 
the  Albanians  to  Turkish  rule.  They  failed  because  the 
extreme  section  of  the  Committee  would  have  none  of  his 
reforms.  They  would  make  the  Albanians  loyal  subjects, 
whether  Moslems  or  Christians,  by  Turkifying  everything  and 
as  far  as  possible  preventing  the  use  of  their  ancient  lan- 
guage. But  their  neighbours  sympathised  with  them,  and 
the  Albanian  insurgents  were  joined  by  a  portion  of  the 
army.  At  Monastir  a  "  Mihtary  League  "  was  formed,  the 
object  of  which  was  to  suppress  the  Committee.  The  pro- 
ceedings indeed  bore  a  pretty  close  resemblance  to  those 
which  had  led  up  to  the  Revolution  of  July,  1908.  Then 
four  years  afterwards,  in  July,  191 2,  the  two  most  im- 
portant members  of  the  Ministry,  Kutchuk  Said  the  Grand 
Vizier,  and  Shevket  Pasha,  Minister  of  War,  resigned. 

It  looked  to  us  as  if  Turkey  was  relapsing  even  into  a 
worse  anarchy  than  that  from  which  the  Albanian  army  had 
saved  her  four  years  earlier.  Thereupon  the  Sultan  sent  for 
Ghazi  Mukhtar  Pasha,  who  formed  a  Ministry  largely 
composed  of  experienced  men,  and  for  a  while  hopes  of  a 
more  stable  Government  were  awakened.  These  hopes 
were  in  part  realised,  but  the  dangers  to  the  Young  Turkey 
Party  were  steadily  increasing.  Two  massacres  occurred 
which  alarmed  the  Ministry  and  hastened  the  action  of  the 
Balkanic  League.    One  was  of  Bulgarians  at  Kotchana,  the 


326       FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

other  of  Serbs  near  the  Montenegrin  frontier.  The  Italian 
war  had  dragged  on  with  great  weariness,  the  Turks,  or  rather 
the  Arabs,  becoming  gradually  weaker.  At  length  peace 
was  hastily  patched  up  because  the  Porte  had  become  aware 
that  the  armies  of  the  Balkanic  League  had  already  com- 
menced mobilisation. 

Serbia  and  Bulgaria  had  suffered  largely  from  the  dis- 
orders in  Macedonia,  Bulgaria  even  worse  than  Serbia. 
Serbia  desired  an  outlet  to  the  Adriatic,  and  accordingly  an 
agreement  was  signed  between  these  two  states  by  which 
they  bound  themselves  to  each  other  to  divide  Macedonia 
and  to  support  each  other  against  Turkey.  The  Treaty  was 
dated  on  February  29,  old  style,  March  13.  It  provided 
that  the  northern  part  of  Macedonia  should  be  taken  by 
Serbia,  and  the  southern  portion,  including  Ochrida  and 
Monastir,  by  Bulgaria,  the  boundary  line  running  in  a  north- 
easterly direction  from  Ochrida  to  Golem.  Between 
Serbian  and  Bulgarian  territory  there  was  a  district  which  is 
conveniently  spoken  of  as  the  "  contested  zone."  A  secret 
annexe  to  the  Treaty  provided  that  if  the  contracting 
parties  could  not  agree  as  to  the  division  of  the  contested 
zone,  the  decision  should  be  submitted  to  the  arbitration  of 
the  Czar  of  Russia,  who  consented  to  act  in  that  capacity. 
Shortly  afterwards  Greece  claimed  to  join  Bulgaria  and 
Serbia,  and  her  claim  was  admitted. 

Without  attempting  to  trace  the  war  in  detail,  the 
important  facts  are  the  following  :  Montenegro  declared  war 
on  Turkey  on  October  8,  1912 ;  the  armies  of  Serbia  and 
Bulgaria  were  already  being  mobilised.  Thereupon,  on 
October  15,  Italy  and  Turkey  concluded  peace.  Three  days 
later  Serbia  declared  war  "  to  secure  the  liberty  and  welfare 
of  Macedonia."  On  October  22  her  troops  captiu^ed 
Prishtina  from  the  Turks.  Six  days  later,  October  28,  the 
Turks  were  defeated  at  Kumanova  by  the  Serbians.  After 
forty-eight  hours  of  hard  fighting,  Uskub,  the  ancient  capital 
of  Serbia,  fell  to  them,  and  another  detachment  reached  the 
Adriatic  at  Durazzo  and  Alessio. 

Meantime  the  Bulgarians  met  with  even  greater  success  in 


ANNEXATION  OF  BOSNIA  AND  HERZEGOVINA   327 

Thrace.  The  famous  struggles  at  Kirk  KiHsse  and  the 
neighbourhood  on  October  22  and  23  were  a  surprise  to 
Europe.  The  Bulgarians  completely  routed  and  drove  the 
Turks  before  them  until  they  reached  the  Lines  of  Chatalja, 
a  series  of  fortifications  about  twenty-five  miles  from  Con- 
stantinople and  extending  from  the  Marmara  to  the  Black 
Sea.  There  the  Turks  made  a  brave  stand.  It  is  now 
known  that  the  Turkish  officer  commanding  sent  to  Con- 
stantinople to  state  that  he  could  not  hold  out  against 
another  tremendous  attack  such  as  the  Bulgars  had  made. 
Meantime  Russia  had  intervened  and  had  informed  Bulgaria 
that  she  did  not  wish  the  Bulgarians  to  press  on  to  Con- 
stantinople. It  is  difficult  to  conjecture  what  was  Russia's 
idea  in  making  this  communication  to  Bulgaria. 

It  is  easy  to  be  wise  after  the  event,  but  one  can  recognise 
now  that  if,  at  the  great  check  which  Turkey  received  at 
Chatalja,  Bulgarian  statesmen  had  insisted  upon  terms  of 
peace  being  there  and  then  signed,  the  Balkan  war  might 
have  terminated.  The  intervention  of  Russia  probably 
prevented  such  an  event.  We  in  Constantinople  watched 
the  progress  of  the  struggle  from  day  to  day.  We  saw 
thousands  of  wounded  being  brought  into  San  Stefano,  an 
absolute  breakdown  in  Turkish  military  and  sanitary 
organisation,  and  the  general  belief  was  that  the  Bulgarians 
would  soon  enter  the  city  triumphantly. 

Unhappily  grave  dissensions  had  arisen  among  the  Bal- 
kan States.  When  Austria  let  it  be  known  that  she  was 
opposed  to  permitting  Serbia  to  have  access  to  the  Adriatic 
she  turned  for  compensation  towards  obtaining  a  larger 
share  of  Macedonia.  It  is  asserted  that  a  secret  arrange- 
ment was  made  between  the  representatives  of  Greece  and 
those  of  Serbia  by  which  Bulgaria  was  to  be  excluded  al- 
together from  the  portion  of  that  province  which  had  been 
assigned  to  her  by  the  Treaty  of  March  13,  1912,  while  even 
the  disputed  section  which  was  to  have  been  left  to  the 
decision  of  the  Czar  was  secretly  divided  between  Serbia  and 
Greece.  I  am  writing  without  access  to  the  full  notes  which 
I  made  on  the  subject,  and  therefore  cannot  be  certain  about 


3a8       FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

my  dates,  but  if  such  a  treaty  were  made  it  was  a  gross  act  of 
treachery  on  the  part  of  Serbia  and  Greece  towards  their  ally. 

One  of  the  first  incidents  which  gave  rise  to  the  con- 
viction that  difficulties  had  arisen  between  the  AlUes  was  a 
race  between  the  Greeks  and  Bulgarians  for  the  occupation 
of  Salonica.  The  Greeks  arrived  a  few  hours  before  the 
Bulgarians,  and  it  looked  as  if  there  were  a  possibility  there 
and  then  of  an  armed  conflict  between  the  two  armies  for  the 
possession  of  that  city.  The  Turkish  army  had  made  what 
everyone  regarded  as  a  mere  show  of  resistance ;  in  other 
words  had  allowed  the  Greeks  to  take  possession  of  the  city, 
the  suggestion  even  being  made  that  this  was  done  by 
arrangement  with  the  Turkish  Governor.  This  took  place 
on  November  8, 1912.  The  Greeks  at  once  installed  a  Greek 
Government,  but  on  the  arrival  of  the  Bulgarian  army  a 
joint  occupation  was  arranged  between  them  and  the  Greeks, 
the  administration,  however,  being  allowed  to  remain  in 
Greek  hands. 

On  November  4  Turkey  appealed  to  the  Powers  for  their 
mediation.  The  last  attack  on  Chatalja  was,  I  think,  on 
November  17.  On  December  3  all  the  belligerents  except 
Greece  agreed  upon  an  armistice,  and  a  Conference  met  in 
London  on  December  16. 

Let  me  mention  to  the  credit  of  the  Orthodox  Church  that 
its  leaders  in  Constantinople  behaved  with  dignity  and  good 
sense  when  it  appeared  certain  that  the  Bulgarians  would 
enter.  They  probably  shared  the  intense  hostility  which 
has  raged  for  centuries  between  Greeks  and  Slavs,  a  hostiUty 
which  had  been  largely  increased  by  the  struggle  between  the 
followers  of  the  Orthodox  Patriarch  and  the  adherents  of  the 
Bulgarian  Exarch.  In  view  of  the  almost  immediate 
occupation  of  the  city  by  a  Bulgarian  army  they  forgot  their 
differences  in  what  they  regarded  as  the  triumph  of  the 
Christian  cause.  They  were  mainly  anxious  to  learn  how 
they,  as  the  leaders  of  the  Orthodox  Church  in  Turkey,  should 
meet  the  captors.  I  saw  some  of  the  leaders  and  was 
delighted  with  their  reasonableness.  I  reminded  them  that 
they  had  declared  the  Bulgarian  Church  to  be  in  schism, 


ANNEXATION  OF  BOSNIA  AND  HERZEGOVINA   329 

and  they  at  once  answered  that  they  had  thought  of  that 
and  had  no  doubt  that  that  difficulty  could  be  overcome  in  a 
few  hours.  Then  I  was  afraid  as  to  the  difficulties  between 
the  Patriarch  and  the  Exarch.  I  suggested  that,  in  accord- 
ance with  ecclesiastical  usage,  the  Metropolitan  in  his  own 
city  always  stood  first.  Did  I  believe  that  the  Exarch 
would  resist  such  a  claim  ?  Speaking  as  a  lawyer  and 
looking  into  the  question  with  detachment,  I  expressed  my 
confidence  that  he  would  do  nothing  of  the  kind.  Many 
other  questions  were  discussed  which  are  not  relevant  to  my 
purpose,  which  is  only  to  shew  that  Greeks  and  Bulgarians, 
though  bitterly  opposed  to  each  other  on  traditional  and 
racial  grounds,  can  examine  questions  with  fairness  the 
instant  something  more  is  involved  than  the  mere  domin- 
ancy  of  one  section  of  Christians  over  another. 

I  have  already  mentioned  that  the  Sultan  had  wisely  sent 
for  Ghazi  Mukhtar  Pasha,  and  that  the  Ministry  formed 
under  him  included  experienced  men  as  well  as  Young  Turks. 
I  was  in  England  at  the  time,  and  on  the  day  when  the  news 
came  I  paid  a  call  at  the  Ritz  Hotel  on  Baron  Marschall  von 
Bieber stein.  As  it  was  the  last  time  I  saw  him  I  may  be 
excused  for  speaking  of  it.  I  sent  up  my  card,  and  after  two 
minutes  saw  a  stately  lady  coming  downstairs  with  her  back 
towards  the  light,  and  heard  a  voice,  "  Is  it  me  you  wish  to 
see.  Sir  Edwin,  or  my  husband  ?  "  I  at  once  recognised  the 
Baroness.  During  two  years  I  had  gladly  given  advice  to  a 
committee  of  an  International  Home  for  young  women  of 
which  the  Baroness  was  President,  and  had  assisted  in  the 
purchase  of  a  house  for  the  committee  which  was  in  the 
name  of  my  son  as  trustee  for  the  Home.  Like  all 
persons  interested  in  the  work,  I  was  favourably  impressed 
with  her  business-like  capacity,  sincere  interest  in  the  work 
and  devotion  to  it.  In  reply  to  her  question  I  responded, 
"  This  time  it  is  the  Baron  I  wish  to  see."  After  some  little 
conversation  I  found  the  footman  who  had  taken  up  my 
card  with  a  message  that  Baron  Marschall  would  see  me  at 
once.  He  received  me  with  more  than  his  usual  cordiality. 
Two  remarks  that  he  made  in  the  course  of  a  conversation 


330       FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

remain  quite  clear  in  my  memory.  "  Of  course  you  have 
seen  the  telegrams  in  the  morning  papers  as  to  the  new 
Ministry."  I  had.  What  did  I  think  of  it  ?  "It  promises 
to  be  stable  and  to  put  an  end  to  internal  dissensions." 
"  Yes,"  said  the  Baron,  "  in  my  opinion  it  is  the  best  that 
I  have  ever  seen  in  Turkey." 

The  second  observation  was  that  it  was  delightful  to 
him  to  be  in  England.  He  was  in  a  new  moral  atmo- 
sphere, and  had  been  charmed  with  the  high  level  of  intellect 
which  he  had  encountered.  The  two  men,  apparently, 
with  whom  he  had  been  most  impressed  for  what  he 
called  their  transcendent  ability  were  Lord  Kitchener  and 
Lord  Morley.  He  spoke  of  others,  and  as  appeared  to  me 
then  it  appears  to  me  now,  with  a  just  estimate  of  their 
characteristics.  What  impressed  him  most  favourably  was 
the  fine  moral  atmosphere  of  our  statesmen.  He  then  used 
words  virtually  to  the  following  effect :  "I  have  long 
wanted  to  be  Ambassador  to  England,  because,  as  you  know, 
for  years  I  have  considered  it  a  misfortune  to  the  world 
that  our  two  countries  are  not  really  in  harmony.  I 
consider  that  I  am  here  as  a  man  with  a  mission,  my  mission 
being  to  bring  about  a  real  understanding  between  the  two 
nations."  In  sajn'ng  my  last  word  about  the  Baron  I 
unhesitatingly  add  that  I  believe  he  was  sincere  in  what  he 
said.  Of  that  I  have  no  doubt.  He  was  a  man  of  strong 
will,  and,  unless  general  report  was  mistaken,  he  had  been 
sent  to  Constantinople  by  the  Kaiser  because  he  could  not 
agree  with  his  sovereign  in  his  way  of  regarding  political 
questions. 

Shortly  afterwards,  and  on  the  eve  of  my  leaving  England, 
I  delivered  an  address  on  the  situation  to  the  Eastern 
Questions  Association,  and  had  the  pleasure  afterwards  of 
meeting  at  dinner  Mr.  Tak^  Jonescu,  the  leader  of  the 
Rumanian  Liberal  Party,  Sir  Donald  Mackenzie  Wallace, 
whom  I  had  known  as  correspondent  of  the  Times  in  Con- 
stantinople during  the  Ambassadorship  of  Lord  Dufferin, 
with  whom  Sir  Donald  went  to  India,  and  other  experts  on 
Eastern  questions. 


ANNEXATION  OF  BOSNIA  AND  HERZEGOVINA   331 

The  new  Ministry  found  its  greatest  difficulty  in  Mace- 
donia. In  an  article  in  The  Contemporary  Review  of  Novem- 
ber, 1912,  and  it  was  probably  posted  not  later  than  October 
20,  I  remarked  that  "  at  the  moment  of  closing  this  article 
the  outbreak  of  war  seems  almost  inevitable,"  Macedonia 
being  then,  and  always  for  years  past,  the  great  subject  of 
contention.  The  new  Ministry  which  had  been  formed 
included  both  Young  Turks  and  some  of  the  best  men  who 
had  served  under  Abdul  Hamid.  In  the  same  article  I 
remarked  that  it  was  hard  on  the  Ministry  to  have  to  repair 
the  blunders  of  its  predecessors. 

As  I  have  already  mentioned,  the  great  struggle  with  the 
Balkan  League  commenced  at  the  end  of  October  or  the 
beginning  of  November.  In  January,  1913,  the  Young 
Turkey  extremists  were  making  frantic  efforts  to  gain  power, 
the  leader  of  these  efforts  being  Enver  Bey.  An  ugly  coup 
d'etat  was  made  on  January  23,  1913,  when  Nazim  Pasha 
was  assassinated.  At  the  same  time  Kiamil  Pasha  was 
forced  by  Enver  to  sign  his  resignation,  and  the  veteran 
ceased  once  more  to  be  Grand  Vizier. 

The  great  Powers  had  advised  that  the  demand  of  the 
Balkan  League  for  the  cession  of  Adrianople  should  be 
accepted,  and  for  a  time  everybody  believed  that  a  definite 
boundary  between  Turkey  and  Bulgaria  was  agreed  to  by 
both  sides  as  existing  in  a  line  to  be  drawn  from  Enos  to 
Media.  Kiamil  Pasha  was  disposed  to  yield  to  the  invita- 
tion of  the  Powers.  The  Committee  considered  that  this 
was  a  favourable  moment  to  drive  him  from  office  on  the 
ground  that  the  nation  should  never  consent  to  any  sacrifice 
of  territory.  A  miUtary  deputation  headed  by  Enver 
entered  the  room  where  the  Turkish  Cabinet  were  planning 
a  reply  to  the  invitation  of  the  Powers  and  declared  that  the 
army  would  never  consent  to  abandon  Adrianople.  It  was 
in  presence  of  their  insistence  that  Kiamil  wrote  out  his  resig- 
nation and  gave  it  to  Enver,  who  at  once  hastened  to  the  palace 
to  present  it  to  the  Sultan.  Nazim  was  shot  in  endeavour- 
ing to  prevent  Enver  from  getting  into  the  Council  Chamber. 

The  new  Ministry  seemed  as  ready  as  the  old  to  make 


332       FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

peace  with  the  Balkan  States,  and  on  March  2  asked  for  the 
mediation  of  the  Powers.  On  March  28,  30,000  Turks  sub- 
mitted at  Adrianople  with  Ghazi  Mukhtar  Pasha  at  their 
head,  and  the  city  was  surrendered.  The  Turks  in  Yanina 
had  already,  on  March  6,  surrendered  that  city  to  the 
Greeks.  On  April  21  the  Balkanic  States  accepted  the 
mediation  of  the  Powers  unconditionally  with  certain  slight 
reservations.  The  Enos  Media  line  was,  however,  definitely 
accepted.  All  claim  to  the  Island  of  Crete  was  abandoned. 
The  question  of  the  Aegean  Islands,  some  of  which  were  in 
the  occupation  of  the  Greeks  and  others  of  Italy,  was  agreed 
to  be  settled  by  the  Powers. 

The  whole  episode  of  the  murder  of  Nazim  and  the  forcing 
of  Kiamil  to  resign  was  a  disagreeable  one,  and  in  the 
absence  of  further  explanation  must  be  set  down  to  the 
discredit  of  Enver.  Shevket  Pasha  became  Minister  of  War 
and  Grand  Vizier.  The  delegates  of  Turkey  and  of  the 
Balkan  States  were  in  London,  but  were  making  very  slow 
progress.  On  January  26  the  Balkan  delegates  in  London 
decided  to  break  off  further  negotiations  with  the  Porte.  I 
happened  to  be  in  London  in  the  month  of  February,  and 
lunched  with  Mr.  Scoloudi,  one  of  the  Greek  delegates  who 
had  remained  behind.  He  was  a  link  with  the  Russo- 
Turkish  war  of  1877-78.  At  that  time  he  resided  in  Con- 
stantinople, and  the  late  Duke  of  Devonshire,  then  Marquess 
of  Hartington,  had  a  two  hours'  interview  with  him,  of  which 
he  remarked  to  a  friend  of  mine  that  he  had  learnt  more  of 
the  Balkan  questions  from  him  than  from  anyone  else.  I 
was  delighted  therefore  to  hear  from  Mr.  Scoloudi,  in 
February,  1913,  that  he  considered  that  the  difficulties 
between  Turkey  and  all  the  Balkan  States  would  be  satis- 
factorily arranged.  Unfortimately,  in  this  opinion  he  erred. 
The  Turks  considered  themselves  free  to  continue  the  war 
with  Bulgaria.  On  March  25,  however,  the  latter  succeeded 
in  obtaining  possession  of  Adrianople.  On  May  13  the  Bal- 
kan States  agreed  to  cease  fighting  and  to  send  delegates  to 
London  for  a  conference.  The  Powers  on  the  following  day 
occupied  Scutari. 


ANNEXATION  OF  BOSNIA  AND  HERZEGOVINA   333 

When  on  June  17,  1913,  Sir  Louis  Mallet,  who  had  been 
Assistant  Under  Secretary  for  Foreign  Affairs,  was  appointed 
Ambassador  at  Constantinople,  the  situation  had  become 
terribly  complicated,  for  on  June  11  Mahmud  Shevket 
Pasha,  Grand  Vizier  and  Minister  of  War,  was  assassinated. 
A  few  days  afterwards  Said  Halim  was  appointed  Grand 
Vizier.  On  June  30  the  second  Balkanic  war  commenced. 
I  can  only  give  impressions  with  regard  to  it,  because  all  the 
necessary  facts  for  arriving  at  a  decision  are  not  yet  known  to 
me.  The  Premier  of  Bulgaria  at  the  time  was  my  friend, 
M.  Gueschoff,  whom  I  have  known  for  thirty  years  as  a 
man  of  good  judgment,  clear  insight,  and  incapable  of  dis- 
honourable action.  He  had  met  Mr.  Passitch,  the  Premier 
of  Serbia,  in  order  to  discuss  and  arrange  terms  of  peace. 
The  discussion  progressed  and  appeared  on  the  point  of 
conclusion,  when  the  miUtary  delegate  suddenly  introduced 
new  conditions  which  Gueschoff  immediately  recognised  as 
certain  to  lead  to  war  between  Bulgaria  and  Serbia.  Gues- 
choff would  have  nothing  to  say  to  them  and  shortly  after- 
wards resigned.  The  military  representative  persisted  in 
his  demands,  with  the  result  which  Gueschoff  had  foreseen. 
Serbia  and  Greece  had  apparently  prepared  themselves  for 
war  against  Bulgaria.  To  the  dismay  of  all  well-wishers  to 
the  Balkan  States,  it  broke  out  with  exceptional  fury. 
Bulgaria  was  badly  beaten,  withdrew  her  troops  from 
Adrianople,  which  after  a  long  siege  she  had  captured,  and 
then  Rumania  struck  in.  Bulgaria  was  quite  unable  to 
resist  the  States  thus  allied  against  her,  and  signed  the 
Treaty  of  Bucharest  in  August,  1913,  the  Rumanian  army 
being  then  only  about  fifteen  miles  from  Sofia. 

The  story  is  one  of  the  most  miserable  in  modem  history. 
The  future  historian  will  be  able  to  say  who  were  mainly  to 
blame  for  it.  Popular  opinion  rightly  or  wrongly  points  to 
King  Ferdinand  as  the  instigator  of  the  second  war,  but 
Bulgarians  affirm  that  Serbia  and  Greece  had  come  to 
the  secret  arrangement  already  mentioned  which  violated 
the  original  treaty,  and  made  a  conflict  inevitable.  The 
contested  zone  was  not  left  to  the  division  of  the  Czar 


334       FORTY  YEARS  IN   CONSTANTINOPLE 

but  was  divided  between  Serbia  and  Greece  to  the  entire 
exclusion  of  Bulgaria.  This  of  itself  was  an  act  of  gross 
injustice.  The  defence  of  Serbia  against  a  charge  of  acting 
unfairly  would  probably  be  the  following :  Part  of  the 
original  understanding  was  that  Serbia  should  obtain  a  road 
to  the  Adriatic,  but  at  an  early  stage  in  the  war  Austria 
stepped  in  and  declared  that  she  would  not  permit  this. 
The  desire  to  have  such  a  road  was  a  natural  and  legitimate 
one  on  the  part  of  Serbia.  Austria  blocked  it  as  part  of  her 
policy  of  keeping  her  road  clear  down  to  Salonica.  When, 
however,  Serbia's  desire  to  get  to  the  Adriatic  was  thus 
blocked,  she  claimed  that  circumstances  had  so  changed  that 
she  was  not  under  any  obligation  to  respect  the  stipulations 
in  the  Treaty  of  March  13,  191 2. 

The  result  of  the  war  was  that  Bulgaria  lost  a  strip  of 
territory  taken  possession  of  by  Rumania,  which  contains  the 
important  town  of  Silistria  and  a  population  of  about  a 
quarter  of  a  million  of  Bulgarians ;  that  she  lost  further 
the  port  of  Cavalla  on  the  Aegean  and  received  only  the 
miserable  open  roadstead  of  Dedeagatch  ;  that  the  southern 
portion  of  Macedonia,  which  it  had  been  definitely  agreed 
should  belong  to  Bulgaria,  was  taken  possession  of  by 
Greece,  and  the  contested  area  was  not  left  to  the  decision  of 
the  Czar,  but  was  divided  between  the  enemies  of  Bulgaria. 
It  is  easy  to  point  out  blunders  and  follies  committed  by  the 
Bulgarians,  but  they  are  no  justification  for  the  injustice 
committed  by  Serbia  and  Greece.  The  historian  and 
statesman  looking  into  the  future  recognises  that  the  two 
Slav  states  will  as  inevitably  come  together  as  English 
statesmen  on  the  accession  of  James  I.  of  England  and  VI. 
of  Scotland  must  have  recognised  that  the  two  kingdoms 
would  be  united.  Bulgaria  and  Serbia,  with  Rumania  on  the 
east  and  Greece  on  the  south-west,  will  ultimately  form  a 
Balkanic  League  which  will  be  the  barrier  of  civilisation  in 
the  south  of  Europe,  provided  that  they  can  arrange  to  drop 
their  local  and  racial  differences  and  act  loyally  together. 

Before  passing  on  to  the  events  of  1914  something  must 


ANNEXATION  OF  BOSNIA  AND  HERZEGOVINA   335 

be  said  of  the  committees  formed  for  the  relief  of  Christian 
and  Moslem  victims  during  the  Balkan  wars  of  1912  and 
1913.  The  distress  in  the  army,  and  especially  in  the  civil 
population  of  Thrace,  was  terrible.  Trains  full  of  wounded 
men  were  sent  back  to  Constantinople.  The  sanitary  and 
medical  arrangements  of  the  Turks  were  hopelessly  bad. 
Mr.  Ashmead  Bartlett  in  one  of  his  graphic  letters  said  that 
"  the  Turks  unaided  were  incapable  of  organising  a  village 
circus."  We  heard  of  the  hideous  condition  of  hundreds  of 
wounded  soldiers  who  had  come  into  San  Stefano,  about 
twelve  miles  from  the  city.  A  Swiss  lady,  who,  I  believe 
had  come  out  as  nurse  under  one  of  the  excellent  philanthropic 
arrangements  due  to  the  action  and  influence  of  Lady  Duff  erin, 
was  in  San  Stefano  and  was  the  only  person  devoting  herself, 
as  she  was  doing  night  and  day,  to  the  service  of  the  wounded. 
The  Rev.  Mr.  Frew  went  down  to  see  for  himself.  I  saw 
him  on  the  evening  of  his  visit,  and  his  account  more  than 
confirmed  the  worst  stories  of  neglect  and  incompetence 
which  were  current.  We  learned  from  others  that  men  who 
had  died  in  the  train  were  simply  thrown  out  of  the  railway 
carriages.  Those  who  arrived  were  lying  about  the  streets 
uncared  for,  some  alive,  some  dying  or  dead.  The  floor  of 
a  schoolroom  into  which  Mr.  Frew  made  his  way  with  great 
difficulty,  and  against  the  wish  of  the  officer  in  command, 
was  covered  with  dead  and  dying.  Bread  was  thrown  in 
amongst  them  and  scrambled  for  by  those  who  still  had  life 
enough  to  make  the  effort.  With  splendid  energy  Mr.  Frew 
set  himself  the  task  of  producing  order.  I  saw  him  next 
evening  in  command  of  two  large  motor-cars  belonging,  I 
believe,  to  Mr.  Hoffmann  Phillips,  Secretary  of  the  American 
Embassy.  These  were  filled  with  loaves,  medicaments,  and 
provisions  of  various  kinds  for  the  sick  and  wounded.  It 
was  Saturday  night,  but  he  had  arranged  for  others  to  take 
his  service  at  the  Presbyterian  Church,  whilst  he,  with  Mr. 
Phillips  and  another,  went  off  to  San  Stefano  and  remained 
there  fully  a  week,  all  working  like  Trojans.  Their  efforts 
drove  the  Government,  for  very  shame,  to  do  something  for 
their  own  men. 


336      FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

Meantime  women,  children,  and  old  men  were  pouring  into 
the  city  and  were  in  the  direst  distress.  A  committee  was 
formed  of  which  Lady  Lowther  was  the  president.  Virtu- 
ally every  member  of  the  British  community  was  upon  it, 
and  the  ladies  under  her  direction  organised  relief  in  a  very 
efficient  manner.  Funds  were  sent  from  England  and 
America,  which  countries  always  supply  more  money  for 
benevolent  purposes  in  Turkey  than  any  other  States  or 
than  all  other  States  put  together.  Local  ladies'  committees 
were  formed,  which  visited  the  camps  of  refugees  and 
distributed  relief.  In  addition  to  the  great  organisation 
under  Lady  Lowther,  whose  labours  were  incessant  and 
intelligent.  Miss  Burgess,  the  head  of  the  Quaker  Mission, 
with  the  assistance  of  Mr.  Hobhouse  and  others,  were 
actively  engaged  in  these  works  of  mercy.  The  organisation 
of  these  committees  was  such  that  they  did  not  clash.  I 
saw  a  good  deal  of  what  was  done  by  one  ladies'  committee, 
of  which  Lady  Block  was  President  and  my  daughter  an 
active  member.  My  wife  and  other  ladies  who  were  unable 
to  take  an  active  part  in  distributing  relief  were  constantly 
occupied  in  making  bandages  and  garments  for  the  refugees. 
The  energy  and  goodwill  which  was  shewn  by  all  was  wonder- 
ful and  was  largely  aided  by  the  personal  activity  and  charm 
of  Lady  Lowther. 

It  was  felt  by  some  of  the  Moslems  in  England  and  India 
that  it  was  their  duty  to  assist  the  distressed  Moslem  women 
and  children.  They  may  have  thought  that  in  the  efforts 
made  by  so  many  Christians  to  relieve  members  of  their  own 
faith,  Moslems  would  be  neglected.  As  a  simple  matter  of 
fact,  they  were  not,  for  relief  was  granted  without  dis- 
tinction of  race  or  creed.  But  all  means  of  relief  were 
welcomed.  When,  therefore,  a  Committee  was  formed  in 
England  under  the  presidency  of  the  Rt.  Hon.  Ameer  Ali  for 
the  special  relief  of  the  Moslem  sufferers  in  the  war,  its  aid 
was  gladly  accepted.  Colonel  Surtees  was  sent  by  Ameer 
Ali's  Committee  to  form  one  in  Constantinople  to  give  relief. 
Three  Englishmen  and  three  Turks  formed  the  local  com- 
mittee.   The  three  Turks  were  Ferid  Pasha,  the  ex-Grand 


ANNEXATION  OF  BOSNIA  AND  HERZEGOVINA  337 

Vizier,  Damat  Ferid  Pasha,  whom  I  have  already  referred 
to  as  a  Turk  of  the  best  class,  and  the  brother  of  the  actual 
Sherif  of  Mecca,  whose  name  I  forget.  The  three  English- 
men selected  were  Colonel  Surtees,  myself,  and  Colonel 
Vinicombe  Pasha,  the  latter  an  old  and  a  well-trusted 
resident  in  Constantinople.  At  a  later  period,  when  Colonel 
Surtees  had  to  return  to  England,  Mr.  Frew  was  elected  in 
his  place. 

Our  meetings  went  on  regularly  and  steadily  during 
several  months  at  Damat  Ferid  Pasha's  house.  Mr.  Frew 
once  more  shewed  his  energy.  We  organised  relief  in  the 
form  of  hot  rations  and  distributed  them  daily  to  between 
four  and  five  thousand  Turkish  women  and  children.  For 
this  purpose  we  had  been  granted  the  use  of  a  mosque  yard 
in  the  heart  of  Stambul.  It  was  an  interesting  and  some- 
times a  heartrending  sight  to  see  the  women  and  children, 
many  of  whom  had  been  reduced  to  skin  and  bone  for  want  of 
food.  But  the  sight  confirmed  me  in  the  opinion  I  have  often 
expressed,  that  there  is  no  race  in  Europe  so  amenable  to  dis- 
cipline and  so  easy  to  govern  as  the  Turks.  We  had  discovered 
two  or  three  old  soldiers  who,  without  fuss  or  noise,  arranged 
the  applicants  for  food  in  such  order  that  each  took  his  or 
her  turn  in  receiving  the  allotted  portion.  There  was  no 
scrambling,  no  pushing  of  others  on  one  side,  and  none  went 
unfed.  The  great  majority  took  away  with  them  their 
pilaf ,  or  their  stew,  or  whatever  happened  to  be  the  provision 
for  the  day,  in  order  to  eat  it  at  home. 

For  reasons  of  health  our  President,  Damat  Ferid, 
although  he  had  visited  several  of  the  mosques  and  had 
satisfied  himself  that  the  distribution  of  food  was  being  done 
satisfactorily,  had  to  resign,  and  in  doing  so  he  and  the  Com- 
mittee appointed  me  as  chairman.  We  continued  our  work 
until  the  war  was  ended  and  the  great  mass  of  refugees  had 
returned  to  their  villages.  Mr.  Frew  attended  as  our 
delegate  at  many  of  the  villages  in  Thrace,  and  made 
admirable  arrangements  by  which  relief  should  be  continued 
in  order  to  enable  the  peasants  to  rebuild  their  houses.  He 
always  took  care  that  what  he  delivered  should  be  distri- 

z 


338       FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

buted  by  the  right  people  to  the  right  people.  He  usually 
assembled  the  local  authorities  and  arranged  that  the  relief 
should  be  given  publicly  so  that  there  should  be  no  chance 
of  peculation  amongst  those  who  distributed  it.  To  con- 
clude, the  work  of  relief  done  by  Lady  Lowther's  committee 
and  the  sub-committees  under  her,  by  the  Friends'  Relief 
Committee  and  by  that  which,  during  the  later  half  of  its 
existence,  was  under  my  chairmanship,  was  a  humanitarian 
work  of  which  England  may  well  be  proud. 


CHAPTER  XXII 

AUGUST-OCTOBER,    I914 

Lull  Before  the  Storm — Turkish  Ministers  Favourable 
to  England,  Excepting  Enver  Pasha — ^Arrival  of  Goeben 
and  Breslau — Constant  Declarations  of  Neutrality  by 
Turks — British  Ships  not  Permitted  to  Pass  Into  the 
Aegean — ^Disadvantages  of  British  Ambassador — Hard 
and  Fast  Rule  Between  Diplomatic  and  Consular 
Service — Irritation  of  Turks  at  Pre-emption  of  Ships 
Built  in  England — Constant  Series  of  Attacks  Against 
England  in  Constantinople — Finding  Turks  Would  not 
Declare  War  Germans  in  Command  of  Turkish  Fleet 
Bombard  Odessa. 

IN  the  spring  of  1914  the  only  section  of  the  population 
of  Turkey  which  shewed  any  activity  was  the  army. 
There  was  apparently  no  thought  anywhere  of  the 
possibility  of  an  outbreak  of  war.  The  Treaty  of  Bucharest 
signed  August  9,  1913,  seemed  to  mark  the  beginning  of  a 
peaceful  period.  We  all  saw  its  dangers,  but  did  not 
anticipate  they  would  lead  to  immediate  trouble.  Bulgaria 
was  deeply  depressed,  but  silently  acquiescent.  Exhausted 
in  the  first  instance  by  her  successful  struggle  against 
Turkey,  and  then  by  her  second  unhappy  contest  with 
Serbia  and  Greece,  in  which,  while  she  was  probably  not 
blameless  for  precipitating  a  war,  the  conduct  of  her  oppon- 
ents in  disposing  not  only  of  the  contested  district  of  Mace- 
donia but  of  that  which  by  treaty  between  the  same  Powers 
was  recognised  to  belong  to  her,  coupled  with  the  inter- 
vention of  Rumania,  who  declared  war  on  Bulgaria  July  10, 
1913,  resistance  by  Bulgaria  became  impossible.  Enver 
Pasha  had  been  allowed  to  reoccupy  Adrianople,  in  spite  of 
the  promise  given  by  the  Entente  that  the  Bulgarian  boundary 

339 


340       FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

between  her  territory  and  Turkey  should  be  a  line  drawn  from 
Enos  to  Media.  The  disposition  made  of  Cavalla  and  Silistria 
could  only  be  regarded  as  temporary.  Nevertheless  no  one 
anticipated  any  immediate  disturbance  in  the  Balkan 
Peninsula.    All  the  Balkan  States  desired  peace. 

It  is  of  course  easy  to  be  wise  after  the  event,  but  I  can 
now  recall  many  circumstances  which  ought  to  have  warned 
me  that  a  war  was  coming  with  Germany  in  which  Turkey 
would  have  to  take  part.  The  attempts  made  by  the  Porte 
to  bring  about  an  understanding  with  Rumania,  including 
two  visits  by  Talaat  Bey,  and  the  failure  of  these  efforts, 
followed  by  a  visit  made  by  the  Czar  in  the  month  of  June, 
1914,  to  Constanza  (under  Turkish  rule  known  as  Kustenji), 
ought  to  have  led  us  to  ask  ourselves  why  Rumania  should 
at  that  moment  be  carefully  cultivated,  both  by  Turkey  and 
Germany.  The  Turkish  army  was  receiving  greater  attention 
than  I  had  ever  before  known  it  to  receive.  The  troops 
round  Constantinople  were  drilling  constantly.  This  we 
put  down  then  to  the  recognition  of  the  bad  figure  they  had 
cut  in  battle  against  the  Bulgarians  and  Serbs,  but  now  can 
recognise  that  the  considerable  increase  of  German  officers 
was  not  induced  merely  by  the  fear  of  further  struggle  with 
any  Balkan  State. 

I  was  especially  impressed  by  the  extraordinary  activity 
of  the  army  when  in  June,  1914,  I  went  to  deliver  the  Com- 
mencement Address  at  the  great  American  College  at 
Marsovan.  When  I  landed  at  Samsoun  I  found  Turkish 
soldiers  everywhere  being  carefully  and  thoroughly  drilled. 
During  my  two  days'  drive  into  the  interior  we  saw  them 
encamped  upon  the  hills,  and  everywhere  occupied.  The 
Turkish  soldier  was  no  longer  the  lethargic  creature  that  I 
had  known  tor  forty  years  in  time  of  peace.  The  discipline 
was  evidently  stricter,  and  the  officers  in  particular  left  the 
impression  that  they  expected  soon  to  be  called  upon  to 
march.  This  change  of  attitude  in  the  army  was  confirmed 
when  I  reached  Marsovan,  for  there  not  only  were  the  troops 
more  numerous  than  usual,  but,  with  the  arrogance  that 
distinguishes  them  when  they  have  a  free  hand  and  anticipate 


AUGUST-OCTOBER,   1914  341 

active  service,  Turkish  officers  had  attempted  to  invade  the 
American  collegiate  premises  under  Dr.  White,  the  President 
of  the  college,  and  it  was  only  by  the  energetic  pressure  of 
Mr.  Morgenthau  that  their  illegal  demands  were  successfully 
resisted.  Upon  my  return  to  Constantinople,  which  would 
be,  I  think,  in  the  first  week  in  July,  there  was  still  no  talk 
of  war  in  any  part  of  Europe. 

The  declaration  by  Austria  against  Serbia  and  the  events 
which  followed  in  quick  succession  came  as  a  surprise  to 
everybody,  except  perhaps  the  German  authorities  in  Con- 
stantinople and  Enver  Pasha.  But  there  is  evidence  from 
Turkey,  as  well  as  from  other  parts  of  Europe,  that  not  only 
was  the  outbreak  of  war  expected  about  this  period,  but  that 
Germany  had  made  her  preparations  before  it  broke  out  for 
forcing  Turkey  to  take  part  in  it.  Munitions  had  been 
landed  in  Syria;  the  Goehen  and  the  Breslau  were  in  the 
Mediterranean;  two  magnificent  German  transports,  the 
I mperiali  and  the  Corcovada,  had  reached  the  Bosporus  laden 
with  munitions. 

The  question  for  us  in  Constantinople  was  whether  or  no 
Turkey  would  be  drawn  into  the  struggle.  The  general  im- 
pression there  in  July  and  until  the  end  of  August  was  that  she 
would  remain  neutral.  The  Ministry  in  power  was  certainly 
not  hostile  either  to  England  or  to  France.  The  Grand  Vizier, 
Prince  Said  Halim,  who  came  into  power  June  24,  1913,  was 
popular  both  with  Frenchmen  and  Englishmen,  and  I  believe 
from  first  to  last  hoped  and  believed  that  Turkey  could  be 
kept  out  of  the  European  quarrel.  Talaat  Bey,  the  strongest 
man  in  the  Ministry,  never,  so  far  as  I  know,  showed  any- 
thing but  friendly  feelings  towards  the  two  great  Western 
Powers.  Jemal  Bey,  the  Minister  of  Marine,  had  osten- 
tatiously visited  a  Messagerie  steamer  moored  to  the  Galata 
quay,  which  had  on  board  a  number  of  Frenchmen  who 
were  on  the  way  to  take  part  in  the  service  of  their  country, 
and  had  cheered  for  France  and  was  heartily  cheered  by  a 
crowd  of  French  and  English.  The  two  Christian  members 
of  the  Cabinet,  Bistani  Effendi,  Minister  of  Mines,  and  Oscan 
Effendi,  the  able  Minister  of  Posts  and  Telegraphs,  were  well 


342      FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

disposed,  so  well-disposed,  indeed,  that  it  is  believed  that  their 
resignation  a  little  later  was  forced  by  two  or  three  of  the 
Chauvinist  members  of  the  Cabinet.  Of  such  members 
Enver  Pasha  was  the  leader.  He  had  naturally  gained 
great  reputation  by  his  attempts  to  cut  off  communications 
between  the  Bulgarian  army  and  Chatalja,  and  then  to 
recapture  Adrianople,  in  the  latter  attempt  at  which  he  had 
been  successful.  The  best  thing  that  can  be  said  of  Enver, 
and  in  justice  must  be  said,  is  that  in  the  darkest  hour  of 
Txukish  troubles  he  had  never  despaired.  After  the 
Revolution  he  had  been  military  attach^  for  a  while  at 
Berlin,  and  probably  all  through  the  period  when  he  was 
Minister  of  War — having  become  so  on  the  murder  of 
Shevket  Pasha — he  was  acting  under  German  influence. 

The  German  Ambassador  was  Baron  von  Wangenheim, 

who  had  come  from  Athens  to  the  Porte.    He  is  a  man  of 

conspicuous  energy  and  pushfulness,  of  great  ability  and 

power  of  driving  men  to  carry  out  his  designs.     When  on 

August  II  the  Goeben  and  the  Breslau  entered  Turkish 

waters.  Admiral  Sucfion,  who  was  in  command,  shewed 

much  of  the  same  determined  character.     WhenJJaeaajJiiips 

had  passed  the  Dardanelles  they  should,  in  conformity  with 

international  law,  have  been  disarmed.     From  the  first  the 

behaviour  of  the  officers  in  command  was  one  of  insolence 

and  defiance  of  international  usages  and  even  of  the  amenities 

of  civiUsed  life.     Even  while  at  the  Dardanelles  an  instance 

of  this  occurred.    The  French  Messagerie  steamer  Saghalien, 

with  a  number  of  Englishmen,  Italians,  and  French  subjects 

on  board,  was  held  up  for  a  while  at  Chanak.    The  Goeben, 

which  by  international  law  had  ceased  to  have  the  right  to 

act  as  a  belligerent  once  she  had  taken  refuge  in  Turkish 

waters,  insisted  upon  visiting  the  French  ship.    One  may 

forgive  her  for  destroying  the  telegraphic  apparatus,  though 

they  had  no  legal  right  to  do  so,  but  the  German  officer  should 

at  least  have  behaved  as  most  German  naval  officers  do,  like  a 

gentleman.     The  passengers  had  ranged  themselves  on  deck 

as  the  German  crew  returned  to  their  boat,  and  the  officer 

observed  a  gentlemanly  looking  man  with  a  number  of 


AUGUST-OCTOBER,   1914  343 

papers  sticking  out  of  his  breast-pocket.  He  went  up  to 
him,  took  one  out,  read  the  address  and  asked  its  owner  who 
was  the  addressee.  The  owner  repUed,  "  She  is  my  wife." 
"  Then,"  said  he,  "  you  can  write  her  another  letter,"  tearing 
the  envelope  with  its  contents  into  pieces  and  throwing  them 
on  the  deck. 

It  is  no  part  of  my  story,  which  is  better  told  in  the  White 
Paper  issued  by  our  Government  in  November,  to  shew  how 
the  Porte  evaded  its  duties  as  a  neutral  power.  Flagrant 
violations  of  international  law  went  on  daily,  and  the  Porte 
had  not  the  courage  or  perhaps  the  wish  to  do  more  than 
feebly  remonstrate.  German  soldiers  and  sailors  were  com- 
ing to  the  Bosporus  by  every  boat  from  Constanza.  Munitions 
of  war  were  being  poured  into  Turkey  and  were  being  sent  for 
use,  some  to  the  Dardanelles,  where  the  captain  of  a  British 
merchant  ship  and  his  wife  counted  the  mines  intended  to  be 
laid  in  the  Dardanelles  as  they  were  arranged  in  long  lines  on 
Turkish  transports.  We  soon  learned  that  others  were 
intended  for  the  coasts  of  Syria,  of  the  Red  Sea  and  the 
Persian  Gulf. 

Meantime  our  Embassy  was  being  assured  constantly  that 
Turkey  intended  to  remain  neutral,  that  the  sailors  of  the 
Goeben  and  the  Breslau  would  be  taken  out  of  these  vessels, 
and  that  nothing  would  induce  Turkey  to  go  to  war.  The 
Dardanelles  was  closed,  and  twenty-three  British  ships 
were  not  permitted  to  pass  through  into  the  Aegean.  My 
son,  who  has  taken  over  the  bulk  of  my  legal  work  for  some 
years,  was  absent  on  a  visit  to  England  during  August  and 
September,  and  on  one  occasion  in  his  absence  nine  splendid 
specimens  of  the  masters  of  British  merchant  steamers  came 
to  my  chambers  in  a  body  and  asked  me  to  advise  them.  It 
had  been  suggested  to  them  by  a  British  authority  (for 
something  not  unlike  a  panic  existed  among  some  of  our 
officials,  though  not  in  the  general  community)  that  they 
should  lose  no  time  but  get  up  steam  and  proceed  at  once  to 
the  Black  Sea,  whence  they  had  nearly  all  come.  Knowing 
the  situation,  my  advice  was  that  they  should  do  nothing  of 
the  sort,  and  I  was  glad  to  find  that  they  all  were  of  my 


344      FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

opinion.  With  the  aid  of  Mr.  Beaumont,  the  Embassy 
Counsellor,  all  these  nine  vessels  ultimately  got  through  into 
the  Aegean.  But  the  stoppage  of  the  passage  of  British 
ships  through  the  Dardanelles,  the  refusal  of  the  Turks  to  give 
the  firmans  which  are  necessary  for  such  passage,  all  showed 
that  a  section  of  the  Turks  expected  shortly  to  be  at  war. 

Now  let  me  digress  to  speak  of  a  somewhat  delicate  sub- 
ject. The  British  Ambassador,  Sir  Louis  Mallet,  whose 
appointment  dated  from  June,  1913,  laboured  under  a  series 
of  disadvantages  to  which  his  German  colleague  was  not 
subjected.  Baron  von  Wangenheim  had  extremely  com- 
petent interpreters  or  Dragomans.  Nine  months  before  the 
outbreak  of  the  war  we  had  at  the  British  Embassy  a 
Dragoman,  Mr.  Fitzmaurice,  whose  general  intelligence, 
knowledge  of  Turkey,  of  its  Ministers  and  people,  and 
especially  of  the  Turkish  language,  was,  to  say  the  least,  equal 
to  that  of  the  best  Dragoman  which  Germany  ever  possessed. 
His  health  had  run  down,  and  he  had  been  given  a  holiday, 
but  when,  I  think  in  the  month  of  February,  1914,  Sir  Louis 
Mallet  returned  to  Constantinople,  Mr.  Fitzmaurice  did  not 
return  with  him,  and  was  never  in  Constantinople  until  after 
the  outbreak  of  war  with  England.  It  is  said  that  he  did  not 
return  because  the  Turkish  Ambassador  in  London  made  a 
request  to  that  effect.  I  do  not  know  whether  the  statement 
is  true  or  not.  I  think  it  probable  that  if  such  a  request 
were  made  it  was  because  Mr.  Fitzmaurice  did  not  conceal 
his  dislike  of  the  policy  which  the  Young  Turks  were 
pursuing.  In  this  respect  he  and  I  often  differed,  and 
have  spent  hours  in  discussing  the  policy  of  the  Young 
Turks.  But  as  his  ability  and  loyalty  to  his  chief  is  beyond 
question,  and  as  he  possesses  a  quite  exceptional  knowledge 
of  the  Turkish  Empire,  and  had  proved  himself  a  most  useful 
public  servant,  both  in  his  investigation  of  the  massacres  in 
Armenia,  at  Urfa  and  other  places,  and  at  a  later  period  in 
acting  with  the  representative  of  the  Indian  Government  in 
settling  the  boundary  of  the  Aden  district,  it  was  nothing 
short  of  a  national  misfortune  that  he  did  not  return  with 
Sir  Louis  Mallet. 


AUGUST-OCTOBER,   1914  345 

Though  differing  in  opinion  from  Mr.  Fitzmaurice,  I  invari- 
ably found  him  reasonable  and  well-informed ;  I  had  formed 
the  highest  opinion  of  his  value  as  a  Dragoman.  It  goes  with- 
out saying  that  he  would  carry  out  any  instructions  which 
his  chief  gave  him.  It  was  therefore  a  matter  of  profound 
regret  to  everyone  in  Constantinople  who  knew  that  he  had 
recovered  from  his  illness,  to  learn  that  he  was  not  permitted 
to  return.  For  now,  what  was  the  condition  of  our  Embassy 
when  it  had  to  strive  against  Baron  von  Wangenheim  with 
his  superbly  equipped  staff  ?  Sir  Louis  Mallet,  so  far  as  I 
know,  had  never  had  experience  in  Turkey.  He  did  not 
know  a  word  of  Turkish.  He  had  under  him  three  Secre- 
taries. Mr.  Beaumont,  the  Counsellor,  especially  during  the 
days  in  August  before  his  chief  returned  from  a  visit  to 
England,  was  busy  almost  night  and  day  on  the  shipping 
cases,  many  of  which  passed  through  my  hands.  He  also 
knows  nothing  of  Turkish  and  had  never  had  experience  in 
Turkey.  Mr.  Ovey,  the  First  Secretary,  also  had  never  been 
in  Turkey,  and  knew  nothing  of  Turkish.  Unfortunately 
also  he  was  taken  somewhat  seriously  ill.  The  next  Secre- 
tary was  Lord  Gerald  Wellesley,  a  young  man  who  will 
probably  be  a  brilliant  and  distinguished  diplomatist  twenty 
years  hence,  but,  like  his  colleagues,  had  no  experience  in 
Turkey.  The  situation  of  our  Embassy  under  the  cir- 
cumstances was  lamentable.  The  ever  active  Germans, 
arming  Turkey  as  rapidly  as  they  could,  bringing  in  muni- 
tions of  war  and  distributing  them  throughout  the  empire, 
defjdng  international  rules  and  treating  the  Porte  almost  as 
a  negligible  quantity,  refusing  to  land  the  crews  of  the  two 
famous  ships  ;  all  under  a  strenuous  Ambassador  and  a  fully 
equipped  staff  of  Turkish  scholars  to  help  him.  The  con- 
trast between  the  two  Embassies  was  all  too  marked. 

It  was  made  worse  than  it  might  have  been  from  the 
mischievous  general  rule  of  our  Foreign  Office,  which  erects 
an  almost  impassable  barrier  between  the  Consular  and 
Diplomatic  Services,  a  barrier  which  I  have  long  desired  to 
see  broken  down.  When,  some  months  afterwards,  I 
returned  to  England,  I  received  a  copy  of  the  "  Appendix  to 


346      FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

the  Fifth  Report  of  the  Royal  Commission  on  the  Civil 
Service,"  published  on  July  i6,  1914,  in  which  (on  page  321) 
there  is  a  letter  written  by  me  two  years  earlier  in  which  I 
made  two  recommendations.  The  first  was  adopted,  the 
second  unfortunately  was  not.  I  claimed  that  the  Consular 
and  Diplomatic  Services  should  be  so  co-ordinated  that  a  good 
man  in  the  Consular  Service  in  Turkey  might  be  promoted 
into  the  Diplomatic  Service,  and  I  instanced  the  case  of  Sir 
William  White,  one  of  the  ablest  Ambassadors  we  ever  had  in 
Constantinople,  who  had  risen  from  being  a  consular  clerk 
to  the  Embassy.  The  facts  under  my  notice  from  July  to 
the  end  of  October,  1914,  afforded  strong  proof  of  the  com- 
mon sense  of  my  recommendation.  The  inexperience  of  the 
Ambassador  and  his  staff  heavily  handicapped  British 
diplomacy  in  Turkey :  yet  there  were  three  men  who  had 
been  or  were  in  the  Consular  Service  whose  help  would  have 
been  invaluable.  They  had  each  proved  themselves  able 
Dragomans  and  had  each  many  years'  experience  in  Turkey. 
The  only  explanation  that  I  can  give  of  why  their  services 
were  not  at  once  made  available  in  the  absence  of  Fitzmamice 
was  the  absurd  restriction  to  which  I  have  alluded. 

The  first  of  these  three  was  Sir  Adam  Block,  who  had  been 
Chief  Dragoman  at  the  Embassy,  and  whose  services,  know- 
ledge of  Turkish,  and  common  sense  had  been  highly  appreci- 
ated by  Sir  William  White  and  Sir  Philip  Currie.  He,  however, 
had  become  the  representative  of  the  British  and  Dutch 
bondholders  in  the  Department  of  the  PubUc  Debt.  It  is  no 
secret  that  he  was  occasionally  consulted  by  Sir  Louis 
Mallet,  but  he  could  not  conceal  the  fact  that  his  position 
was  likely  to  lead  to  a  serious  conflict  of  duties.  As  Presi- 
dent of  the  Public  Debt  he  was  a  Turkish  official.  The  two 
other  men  whose  services  might  have  been  immediately 
commandeered  by  the  British  Foreign  Office  were  Mr.  Lamb, 
a  man  who  also  had  been  Chief  Dragoman  at  the  Embassy, 
but  who  for  private  reasons  had  chosen  to  exchange  that 
post  for  the  Consul-Generalship  at  Salonica.  He  knows 
Turkey  almost  from  end  to  end,  and  speaks  Turkish  well. 
The  other  Englishman  was  Mr.  Robert  Graves,  who  has 


AUGUST-OCTOBER,   1914  347 

occupied  consular  posts  from  Erzeroum  in  the  Far  East  to 
the  Island  of  Crete  in  the  extreme  west  of  the  empire.  Both 
these  gentlemen  combine  the  suaviter  in  modo  with  the 
fortiter  in  re  to  a  quite  exceptional  degree.  Each  would  be 
absolutely  unyielding  in  carrying  out  the  instructions  of  an 
Ambassador,  and  each  could  have  given  him  valuable 
advice  suggested  by  his  knowledge  of  the  Turks  and  the 
country.  Each  also  is  so  well  acquainted  with  the  amenities 
of  civilised  life  to  which  Turkish  Ministers  are  peculiarly 
susceptible,  that  they  would  be  prepared  to  convey  the 
stiffest  message  necessary  and  yet  be  recognised  as  having 
conveyed  it  as  gentlemen  should.  If  Sir  Louis  Mallet  was 
unwilling  to  disarrange  the  Department  of  PubHc  Debt  by 
having  Sir  Adam  Block  constantly  as  his  adviser,  one  of  the 
latter  two  should  have  been  taken  over  by  him.  It  might  be 
truthfully  answered  that  the  Grand  Vizier  speaks  English 
well,  and  that  with  him  there  was  no  need  of  a  Dragoman. 
But  he  is  the  only  Minister  of  whom  this  can  be  said.  More- 
over the  Dragoman's  services  were  wanted  for  his  knowledge 
of  the  country  and  Turkish  character  and  politics  quite  as 
much  as  for  interpreting. 

We  all  saw  by  the  middle  of  October  that  Turkey  was 
drifting  into  war.  We  all  regretted  the  situation  and  asked 
ourselves  whether  it  might  not  have  been  avoided  by 
England.  Briefly  resumed,  the  position  was  the  following  : 
The  Turkish  Ministry  had  repeatedly  declared  its  intention  of 
remaining  neutral.  The  Grand  Vizier,  Prince  Said  Halim, 
had  given  almost  daily  assurances,  first  to  Mr.  Beaumont  and 
then  to  Sir  Louis  Mallet  on  his  return  to  Constantinople,  to 
this  effect.  Talaat  Bey,  the  Minister  of  the  Interior,  who 
impressed  those  whom  he  met  in  England  five  years  ago  with 
a  certain  openness  and  frankness  of  character,  was  mainly 
anxious  to  have  the  integrity  and  independence  of  the 
empire  guaranteed  by  England  and  France,  and  this  guaranty 
had  been  given.  No  one  would  have  pronounced  him  weak. 
Jemal,  the  Minister  of  Marine,  I  have  already  described  as 
having  friendly  feelings  towards  the  Entente.  Hallil  Bey 
was  also  regarded  as  friendly.    The  two  Christian  members 


348      FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

of  the  Government,  Bistani  and  Oscan,  were  avowedly  in 
favour  of  the  Entente  if  the  attitude  of  neutrality  could  not 
be  maintained.  The  Sheik-ul-Islam  was  understood  to  be  in 
favour  of  the  policy  proclaimed  by  Said  Halim  and  spoke  of 
attacks  upon  Russia  as  madness.  The  only  Minister  who 
was  openly  unfavourable  to  the  Entente  was  Enver,  and  it 
had  already  become  clear  that  he  had  thrown  in  his  lot 
heart  and  soul  with  the  Germans.  Baron  von  Wangen- 
heim,  General  Liman  von  Sandars,  the  leading  military 
German  officer  as  Admiral  Suchon  was  of  the  Navy,  and 
still  in  command  of  the  Goeben,  formed  a  strong  com- 
bination. 

Popular  sentiment  was  inflamed  by  many  circumstances 
and  by  a  propaganda  against  England  which  is  reasonably 
suspected  to  have  been  largely  incited  by  Enver  and  the  Ger- 
man Embassy.  Turkish  shops  in  Stambul  produced  maps  of 
Turkey  shewing  the  enormous  amount  of  territory  which  she 
had  lost  since  the  formation  of  the  Balkan  League,  But  so  far 
as  popular  sentiment  could  be  estimated,  it  was  not  with  the 
war  party,  although  Enver  Pasha  was  acclaimed  throughout 
the  capital  and  empire  as  the  hero  who  had  recovered  Adria- 
nople.  Mobilisation  during  August  and  the  first  half  of  Septem- 
ber was  pushed  rapidly  forward.  We  in  Constantinople  asked 
against  whom  were  these  preparations  being  made.  Greece 
was  the  first  country  generally  suggested,  for  the  Greeks  in 
Thrace  and  in  the  province  of  Aidin  had  been  grossly  mal- 
treated. In  the  Balkan  war  the  Greek  fleet  had  been 
successful,  no  boat  in  the  Turkish  service  being  a  match  for 
the  Averoff.  Soon,  however,  the  preparations  in  the  army 
were  seen  to  be  much  more  important  than  those  in  the 
navy,  and  therefore  the  suggestion  that  Greece  was  the 
object  of  attack  had  to  be  abandoned.  Then  the  popular 
impression  was  that  the  British  were  to  be  driven  out  of 
Egypt.  There  was,  however,  little  or  no  hostile  feeling 
against  the  British,  and  gradually  popular  opinion  settled 
down  to  the  belief  that  Russia  was  to  be  the  country  attacked, 
which  meant  of  course  that  Turkey  would  join  Germany 
and  Austria.     It  was  predicted  that  on  September  i8  the 


AUGUST-OCTOBER,   1914  349 

Turkish  fleet  would  steam  out  into  the  Black  Sea  and  give 
challenge  to  the  Russian  fleet. 

Looking  back  over  the  situation  in  September  and 
October,  1914,  in  Constantinople,  it  appears  probable  that 
these  rumours  were  carefully  spread  by  the  Germans.  I 
remember  that  on  September  19  and  the  few  following  days 
the  Goeben  and  the  Breslau  were  anchored  off  Moda  Point, 
the  southern  extremity  of  the  Bosporus  on  the  Asiatic  side. 
Three-fourths  of  the  crews  wore  German  naval  uniforms. 
Meantime,  daily,  munitions  of  war  and  Germans  were  being 
poured  into  Turkey  through  Rumania.  Every  indication  at 
that  time  shewed  that  the  Germans  were  determined  to  force 
Turkey  into  war.  The  White  Paper  issued  by  our  Govern- 
ment shews  that  Sir  Louis  Mallet  was  informed  on  various 
occasions  by  Turkish  Ministers  themselves  that  the  Germans 
were  urging  them  to  commit  hostilities.  I  can  imagine  that 
a  British  Ambassador,  in  pre-telegraphic  days,  who,  seeing 
what  was  going  on,  and  especially  noting  the  refusal  of  the 
Germans  to  accede  to  the  Turkish  demand  that  German 
sailors  from  the  two  ships  mentioned  should  be  put  on  shore, 
would  have  said  to  the  Grand  Vizier,  "  You  must  put  these 
sailors  on  shore  within  twenty-four  hours  or  send  me  my 
passports."  But  we  laymen,  with  our  necessarily  limited 
knowledge  of  the  diplomatic  situation  and  of  the  needs  of  our 
AlUes,  recognised  that  there  might  be  other  facts  which 
would  influence  our  judgment.  I  gather  from  the  White 
Paper  that  the  English  Ambassador  had  to  follow  the 
example  of  his  French  colleague,  and  so  during  the  latter  end 
of  September  and  October  we  were  living  under  a  German 
dictatorship.  Twenty-five  British  ships  were  during  several 
days  prevented  from  passing  through  the  Dardanelles.  The 
cargoes  of  those  which  had  coals  or  cereals  were  either  com- 
pulsorily  bought  or  commandeered.  The  entrances  from 
the  Black  Sea  to  the  Bosporus  and  from  the  Dardanelles  to 
the  Aegean  were  strewn  with  mines,  and  many  steamers, 
British  and  French,  were  detained. 

For  a  while  the  Censor  only  permitted  news  of  the  Euro- 
pean war  to  appear  which  had  been  transmitted  by  Wolff's 


350      FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

telegrams.  These  were  so  obviously  false  that  a  not  un- 
common jest  was  heard  that  "  there  were  lies,  d lies, 

and  Wolff's  telegrams."  The  French  Embassy  had  to  insist 
upon  the  pubUcation  of  its  official  news  to  counteract 
the  false  statements  of  Wolff.  These,  together  with  similar 
ofl&cial  statements  from  the  British  and  Russian  embassies, 
had  a  useful  effect. 

It  would  not  be  right  in  this  resume  to  pass  over  the  effect 
produced  on  Turkish  opinion  by  the  exercise  of  its  right  of 
pre-emption  by  our  Government  over  the  two  powerful  ships 
built  in  England  for  the  Turks,  the  Reshadie  and  the  Sultan 
Osman.  The  German  and  Government  papers  in  Constanti- 
nople constantly  harped  upon  the  injustice  done  by  England 
in  exercising  such  right.  It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  its 
exercise  was  the  most  powerful  weapon  which  the  German 
party  possessed  in  Constantinople  against  the  British 
Government.  The  unsettled  question  of  the  Greek  islands 
had  occupied  the  Turkish  Government  after  the  Treaty  of 
Bucarest  more  than  any  other.  Turkey  desired  to  regain 
Mitylene  and  Chios  and  recognised  that  the  great  obstacle 
was  the  inferiority  of  its  fleet  to  that  of  Greece.  The  pre- 
diction was  everywhere  heard  in  the  spring  of  1914  that  when 
the  new  ships  reached  Turkey  this  inferiority  would  cease. 
The  common  beUef  was  that  as  soon  as  these  vessels  were 
ready  for  sea,  M.  Venezelos,  the  Greek  Premier,  would  himself 
declare  war,  and  thus  compel  England  to  put  her  own  law 
into  force  and  prevent  their  leaving  her  shores.  Hence 
their  construction  had  been  hurried  on  in  every  possible  way 
by  the  Turks.  The  popular  idea  was  that  as  soon  as  they 
should  reach  the  Dardanelles  they  would  be  sent  to 
Salonica  and  simultaneously  a  large  Turkish  army  would 
make  a  rush  from  D^d^agatch  along  the  shore  of  the 
Aegean  to  co-operate  with  the  fleet  against  Salonica.  A 
common  report  was  that  Bulgaria  had  consented  to  an 
arrangement  by  which  her  opposition  would  be  bought  off  in 
return  for  her  receiving  the  port  of  Cavalla.  The  pre-emption 
of  the  two  ships  knocked  the  bottom  out  of  these  predictions 
and  the  Turkish  disappointment  was  intense.    The  papers 


AUGUST-OCTOBER,   1914  351 

inspired  by  Germany  in  Constantinople  spoke  of  the  act  as 
piracy,  as  a  blow  aimed  solely  at  Turkey.  It  was  a  bully's 
attack  on  a  small  state.  The  idea  was  carefully  spread 
throughout  the  army.  In  one  camp  of  newly  collected  troops 
I  was  informed  by  a  person  present  that  an  official  marched 
up  and  down  declaring  that  they  were  always  to  remember 
that "  England  is  the  enemy.  England  is  the  enemy."  The 
Osmanische  Lloyd,  a  subsidised  German  paper  published  in 
Constantinople,  which  has  been  for  years  an  absolutely 
unscrupulous  enemy  of  England,  treated  its  readers  day  after 
day  to  charges  of  bad  faith  by  our  country.  There  was  no 
English  paper  in  existence,  for  the  Levant  Herald  had  ceased 
publication ;  nor  was  there  any  paper  which  was  not  censored 
in  such  a  manner  that  the  impression  grew  that  the  Censor 
was  himself  a  German.  Many  statements  were  industriously 
circulated  through  the  local  press  in  order  to  produce  a 
sentiment  of  hostility  towards  England,  and  the  one  to 
which  apparently  the  most  importance  was  attached  was 
that  the  Moslems  of  India  were  on  the  point  of  rising  to 
attack  England  as  the  enemy  of  Islam.  It  is  possible  that  . 
the  Kaiser  himself  believed  the  statement,  as  apparently  he  I 
did  others,  that  civil  war  would  break  out  in  Ireland  between  ' 
the  Nationalists  and  the  men  of  Ulster,  that  South  Africa 
would  immediately  revolt,  that  Egypt  would  be  lost  to 
England  if  war  broke  out,  and  that  Pan-Islamism  would  at 
once  take  a  large  development.  Our  Embassy  gave  a 
severe  blow  to  the  nonsense  about  India  by  summaries  of 
facts  shewing  how  the  Moslem  Princes  and  people  were 
united  in  support  of  the  King-Emperor,  how  Agha  Khan 
was  entirely  loyal,  and  how  the  Committee  of  the  Islamic 
League  of  All  India  urged  all  Moslem  States  not  to  be 
caught  up  in  the  whirlwind  of  the  Great  War,  and  advised 
Turkey  to  remain  neutral. 

I  wrote  to  The  Contemporary  Review  on  October  6  last, 
declaring  that  during  the  week  beginning  September  28 
the  Germans  had  used  all  their  influence  upon  the  Turks  to 
induce  them  to  join  in  the  European  War ;  that  the  im- 
pression both  of  Turks  and  foreigners  was  that  the  Porte  was 


352  FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 
being  urged  to  adopt  a  provocative  policy,  and  that  the  order 
to  close  the  Dardanelles  on  a  perfectly  absurd  pretext  was 
given  by  a  German  officer  in  command  at  Chanak  ;  that  the 
German  Suchon  Pasha,  in  command  of  the  Goeben,  was  in 
reality  in  command  of  the  Turkish  fleet  and  disregarded  all 
Turkish  authority  ;  that  the  Germans  were  profuse  in  their 
promises  if  Turkey  would  join  them,  and  expressed  them- 
selves as  alone  able  to  save  Turkey  from  Russia.  In  spite 
of  German  promises  and  threats,  the  vis  ineriice  of  the  Turkish 
people  and  the  common  sense  of  their  Ministers  still  favoured 
neutraUty.  In  spite  of  all  the  inducements  held  out  to  them 
they  were  unwilling  to  join  in  the  war.  They  would  have 
been  unanimously  and  heartily  on  the  side  of  England  and 
France  had  it  not  been  known  that  we  were  in  alliance  with 
Russia.  It  was  perhaps  too  much  to  expect  that  a  people 
should  suddenly  forget  the  tradition  of  many  generations 
during  which  Russia  has  always  been  the  enemy. 

I  am  convinced,  however,  that  Baron  von  Wangenheim 
and  his   associates   came  to  recognise  that   by   unaided 
diplomacy  it  was  impossible  to  overcome  the  reluctance  of 
the  Turkish  people  to  engage  in  war  on  the  side  of  Germany. 
Something  had  to  be  done  in  order  to  overcome  the  decision 
of  the  Grand  Vizier  and  the  majority  of  the  Ministers  in 
favour  of  neutrality.     It  is  true  that  they  had  shewn  them- 
selves weak  in  permitting  the  entry  of  the  Goeben  and  the 
Breslau  and  in  not  insisting  upon  their  being  disarmed. 
Promises  had  been  made  without  stint.  Crete  would  be  given 
back  to  Turkey,   the  Capitulations  would  be  abolished. 
Money  would  be  forthcoming.    £1,200,000  in  bar-gold  had 
actually  been  received  by  the  Germans  before  the  end  of 
October.    Admiral  Limpus  and  his  British  staff  had  already 
been   replaced   by    Germans.     Nevertheless    the    Ministry 
believed  that  neutrality  could  be  maintained  so  long  as 
Turkey  was  inactive.     In  spite  of  the  urgent  demands  of  the 
Germans,  the  Turkish  Government  would  not  declare  war. 
A  family  council  was  held  at  the  palace  in  the  early  days  of 
October  at  the  demand  of  Izzedin,  the  Crown  Prince,  when  a 
resolution  was  adopted  that  no  declaration  of  war  should  be 


AUGUST-OCTOBER,  1914  353 

made  without  the  consent  of  such  body.  The  meaning  of 
the  resolution  was  that  Enver  Pasha,  to  whom  the  majority 
of  those  present  were  opposed,  was  already  believed  to  be 
doing  his  utmost  to  rush  Turkey  into  an  act  of  war.  The 
Grand  Vizier  himself  had  declared  that  under  no  circum- 
stances would  he  consent  to  make  war  upon  France  and 
England,  Such  was  the  position  at  the  end  of  October, 
The  policy  of  the  Entente  in  Turkey  seemed  to  us  to  be  one  of 
quiet  confidence  in  Turkish  assurances.  That  of  the  war 
party  at  the  instigation  of  Germany  was  one  of  unscrupulous 
pushfulness. 

An  incident  occurred  in  Constantinople  on  the  evening  of 
October  29,  the  day  on  which  Odessa  was  bombarded,  which 
raises  a  strong  presumption  that  the  attack  was  a  surprise 
to  all  the  Turkish  Ministers,  with  the  exception  probably  of 
Enver.  At  a  dinner  where  a  few  Englishmen,  all  well  known 
to  me,  were  present,  a  telegram  giving  the  Odessa  news 
created  consternation.  One  of  the  intended  diners  had  seen 
Jemal  Pasha,  the  Minister  of  Marine,  only  two  hours  earlier, 
and  he  and  others  expressed  the  opinion  that  the  telegram 
could  not  be  true.  All  recognised  that  if  it  were  it  meant 
war.  Accordingly  one  of  those  present  was  sent  off  at  once 
by  motor-car  to  see  Jemal.  Not  finding  him  at  his  house, 
he  followed  him  to  a  club,  called  him  into  a  private  room, 
and  showed  him  the  telegram.  Jemal  went  green,  expressed 
intense  and  genuine  surprise  or  incredulity,  and  swore  on  the 
head  of  his  daughter — an  oath  which  no  Turk  lightly  utters 
— that  he,  Minister  of  Marine  though  he  was,  knew  nothing 
of  the  matter.  He  expressed  his  belief  that  Talaat  Bey, 
Minister  of  the  Interior,  was  in  like  ignorance.  Talaat  was 
immediately  communicated  with,  and  professed  complete 
ignorance.  Then  Enver  Pasha  was  rung  up,  and  declared 
that  he  had  just  received  a  telegram  to  the  like  effect  as 
that  referred  to.  Whether  or  no  he  expressed  complete 
ignorance  of  such  an  incident  having  been  arranged,  I  do 
not  know.  The  Grand  Vizier  emphatically  repudiated  any 
foreknowledge  of  the  incident.  Turkey  had  been  forced 
into  war. 

AA 


CHAPTER    XXIII 

THE  AMERICAN  AMBASSADOR   AT  CONSTANTINOPLE 

I  Wish  to  Remain  in  Constantinople  After  Declaration 
of  War — I  am  Arrested — Imprisoned — Released  by 
Intervention  of  the  American  Ambassador — I  Leave 
Constantinople — ^Journey  to  Dedeagatch — ^Thence  to 
Piraeus,  Malta,  Marseilles,  and  England — Incidents  of 
the  Voyage — ^Noble  Conduct  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Morgen- 
thau  Towards  French  and  British  Refugees — The 
Y.M.C.A.  in  Constantinople. 

WHEN  Turkey  declared  war  upon  England  on 
October  29,  1914,  I  had  to  decide  whether  I 
should  leave  the  country  or  not.  I  was  not 
unprepared  for  the  question,  because  it  had  become 
evident  to  me  that  the  Turks  were  unable  to  resist  German 
pressure,  and  I  had  determined  that  if  possible  I  would 
remain  in  Constantinople.  The  situation  was  intensely 
interesting  and  I  dreamed  of  recording  its  developments. 
Early  in  November  a  German  friend,  who  is  at  once  a  scholar 
and  a  gentleman,  stopped  me  in  the  street  with  the  remark  : 
*'  Sir  Edwin,  you  have  written  The  Destruction  of  the  Greek 
Empire  ;  I  think  you  are  going  to  live  to  write  the  Destruction 
of  the  Turkish  Empire." 

I  replied,  "  Hush  !  such  things  should  not  be  said  in  a  Pera 
street." 

"  Still,  I  believe  it  is  true.  I  Uke  the  Turks,  but  I  think 
they  are  committing  suicide." 

We  parted,  and  I  am  sure  that  the  opinion  of  my  friend, 
though  he  must  have  recognised  that  it  was  German  influence 
that  had  driven  them  into  war,  was  an  honest  one.    He  had 

354 


THE  AMERICAN  AMBASSADOR  355 

lived  many  years  in  Turkey,  spoke  Turkish  like  a  Turk,  and 
has  been  known  to  me  for  many  years  as  a  man  of  good 
judgment. 

It  was  indeed  my  hope  that  I  should  be  permitted  to 
remain,  and  therefore  when  I  saw  the  departure  of  the 
Ambassador  and  Consul  and  their  staffs,  and  of  nearly  all  of 
the  British  community  who  could  afford  to  get  away,  it  did 
not  greatly  alarm  me.  I  knew  that  I  had,  as  I  trust  I  stiU 
have,  many  friends  amongst  the  best  Turks  and  among  the 
Young  Turkey  Party  now  in  power,  and  I  fully  recognised 
that  the  nation  had  been  driven  into  war  by  the  pushfulness 
and  the  persistency  of  the  Germans,  aided  by  Enver  Pasha, 
the  Minister  of  War. 

The  Turk  is  not  a  spiteful  man,  and  I  had  done  nothing 
that  would  make  him  personally  hostile  to  me.  I  was  the 
legal  adviser  until  his  death  of  Prince  Halim,  father  of  the 
Grand  Vizier.  I  do  not  believe  that  either  Prince  Said  Halim 
or  his  brothers  have  any  unkindly  feeling  towards  me.  The 
last  time  I  saw  Talaat  Bey,  the  Minister  of  the  Interior,  was 
in  the  early  summer  of  1914  in  the  island  of  Prinkipo,  where 
he,  with  Dilber  Effendi,  a  distinguished  senator,  met  me  out 
walking  with  my  youngest  son  and  got  out  of  their  carriage 
to  greet  me  and  have  a  friendly  talk.  Unprompted  by  any 
outsider,  I  do  not  believe  that  any  one  of  the  Ministers 
would  have  objected  to  my  remaining.  I  had  taken  a 
sympathetic  interest  in  the  development  of  Ottoman 
Constitutionalism,  and  the  remark  of  Hakki  Pasha  shewed 
that  he  correctly  understood  what  was  my  attitude  to  the 
Government, 

It  was,  however,  reported  to  me  that  Baron  von  Wangen- 
heim  urged  my  expulsion,  and  I  beheve  it.  To  the  reply 
made  to  him,  that  while  I  had  criticised  the  Party  in  power  I 
had  always  defended  it  against  the  adherents  of  Abdul 
Hamid,  he  retorted  that  I  had  begun  the  opposition  to  Turkey 
in  Western  Europe  by  exposing  what  I  called  the  Moslem 
outrages  in  Bulgaria.  The  diplomat  to  whom  he  was 
talking  I  think  knew  little  or  nothing  of  the  events  of  1876. 
To  this  statement,  which  he  regarded  as  ancient  history,  he 


356       FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

replied :    "  Surely  there  is  such  a  thing  as  prescription  in 
these  matters  ?  " 

When  the  story  was  told  me  I  answered  that  I  gloried  in 
what  I  had  done  in  reference  to  Bulgaria  and  in  my  protests 
against  the  Armenian  massacres.  But  the  incident  is 
interesting  as  showing  the  thoroughness  with  which  the 
German  diplomatist  will  carry  out  his  object.  His  idea 
probably  was  that  there  should  be  no  Enghshman  left  in 
Turkey  who  would  be  capable  of  reporting  what  the  Germans 
were  doing. 

I  was  informed  that  the  immediate  cause  of  hostility  and 
of  action  against  me  was  that  four  members  of  the  Khedival 
family  had  been  arrested.  Thereupon  the  order  had  been 
given  that  the  four  leading  members  of  the  British  Com- 
munity were  to  be  treated  in  the  same  way.  Of  course  in 
war  time  no  objection  to  such  an  order  being  given  can  be 
successfully  made.  War  is  war.  I  was  informed,  however, 
by  Mr.  Morgenthau,  the  American  Ambassador  in  Con- 
stantinople, that  in  the  middle  of  November  he  had  seen 
both  Enver  Pasha  and  Talaat  Bey,  and  had  been  promised 
by  each  of  them  on  their  word  of  honour  that  neither  I  nor 
Dr.  A.  van  Millingen,  Professor  of  History  at  Robert  College, 
should  be  molested.  It  was  therefore  a  surprise  to  me  when, 
entirely  without  warning,  on  Monday,  November  30,  the 
police  entered  my  chambers,  packed  up  the  contents  in 
sacks,  including  everything  in  my  safe,  and  then  proceeded 
to  my  house  and  made  a  similar  seizure  there.  A  friend  who 
was  with  me  in  my  chambers  was  not  permitted  to  leave, 
nor  was  I  allowed  to  use  the  telephone. 

The  packing  up  of  my  papers  occupied  the  whole  of  the 
morning.  I  was  taken  to  my  private  house,  and  this  again 
occupied,  with  lunch,  a  matter  of  two  or  three  hours.  Then, 
always  accompanied  by  two  secret  police  agents,  I  was  taken 
across  to  Stambul,  to  a  building  set  aside  as  a  prison  for 
non-Turkish  subjects.  When  I  arrived  there  I  was  shewn 
into  a  room,  requested  to  turn  out  my  pockets,  and  passed 
into  the  common  room.  I  suppose  it  was  about  twenty  feet 
long  by  thirteen  broad.     There  were  about  five-and-twenty 


THE  AMERICAN  AMBASSADOR  357 

men  in  it — several  Russians,  three  or  four  Frenchmen,  and 
two  or  three  Egyptians  who  had  spoken  approvingly  of 
British  rule.  The  room  was  filthy,  and  contained  only  one 
chair — an  old  one.  The  occupants  were  naturally  interested 
in  the  new-comer,  but  treated  me  with  great  respect  and 
even  kindness,  insisting  that  I  should  take  possession  of  the 
chair.     There  I  remained  for  two  hours. 

What  passed  in  my  absence  was  the  following.  As  soon 
as  the  friend  who  had  been  in  my  chambers  was  allowed  to 
go  free,  he  at  once  went  to  the  American  Embassy  and  found 
that  the  Ambassador  had  gone  over  to  Stambul.  He,  how- 
ever, saw  the  First  Secretary,  who  remarked  when  he  heard 
the  story  that  Mr.  Morgenthau  would  be  greatly  annoyed, 
because  to  his  knowledge  Enver  Pasha  and  Talaat  Bey 
had  given  the  Ambassador  their  word  of  honour  that  I  should 
not  be  molested. 

The  Secretary  immediately  tried  by  telephone  to  find 
where  the  Ambassador  was,  and  got  into  communication 
with  him  while  he  was  in  Talaat  Bey's  room.  On  hearing 
the  news,  he  at  once  turned  to  Talaat  with  the  remark  : 
"  You  have  violated  your  word  of  honour  !  You  have 
arrested  Sir  Edwin  Pears.  I  am  going  to  have  him  out  and 
take  him  back  in  my  motor-car." 

Talaat  said  he  had  forgotten  that  he  had  pledged  his  word, 
but  added  that  he  could  not  release  me  because  the  matter 
had  passed  out  of  his  hands  into  those  of  Bedri  Bey,  the 
Minister  of  PoUce. 

"  Then,"  said  Mr.  Morgenthau,  "  send  for  him  imme- 
diately, because  I  am  not  going  to  leave  until  I  know  that  Sir 
Edwin  is  free." 

It  was  probably  an  hour  before  Bedri  could  be  found. 
Let  me  say  in  passing  that  Bedri  is  probably  a  typical  chief 
gaoler,  educated  in  the  school  of  Abdul  Hamid.  He  at  once 
opposed  every  objection  possible.  He  was  only  an  executive 
officer,  and  a  decision  (according  to  him)  having  been  given 
by  the  Council  of  Ministers,  he  could  not  release  me. 

"  Decision  or  no  decision,"  said  Mr.  Morgenthau,  "  you, 
Enver  Pasha,  and  Talaat  Bey  pledged  your  word  to  me  as 


358       FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

Ambassador  of  the  United  States,  and  I  intend  that  word  to 
be  respected." 

Then  followed  a  somewhat  hot  discussion.  Bedri  pro- 
posed to  bargain  and  suggested  that  I  should  be  released,  but 
should  leave  the  country  within  forty-eight  hours.  Mr. 
Morgenthau  contemptuously  repUed,   "  Absurd  !  " 

Mr.  Morgenthau  in  telling  me  the  story  said  he  was 
anxious  that  I  should  not  spend  the  night  in  a  Turkish  prison 
and  that,  once  out,  a  bargain  might  be  made  as  to  the  time 
of  departure  or  even  as  to  remaining  in  Constantinople. 

Finally,  to  cut  this  part  of  the  story  short,  it  was  agreed 
that  I  should  be  released  at  once  but  should  leave  the  country 
within  a  fortnight. 

"  I  want  him  now,"  said  Mr.  Morgenthau,  "  and  I  am 
going  to  take  him  with  me." 

They,  however,  begged  him  not  to  insist  upon  this  con- 
dition, claiming  that  as  he  was  the  Ambassador  of  a  Great 
Power  it  would  have  an  unfortunate  effect  in  the  Community 
if  it  were  known  that  he  had  ostentatiously  taken  me  from 
prison  to  my  house.  Like  the  man  of  consummate  common 
sense  that  he  is,  Mr.  Morgenthau  said  : 

"  Provided  he  is  released  immediately  I  will  not  insist 
upon  that  condition;  but  I  am  now  going  to  the  Embassy,  and 
if  he  is  not  home  by  a  quarter  past  six  I  shall  return,  and 
whatever  may  be  the  consequences  will  not  leave  this 
place  until  I  have  him  with  me." 

He  then  drove  off  to  Pera  to  see  my  wife,  to  inform  her  of 
the  promise  that  had  been  given,  and  relieve  her  anxiety. 
To  my  daughter,  who  was  with  her,  our  house  not  being 
more  than  three  hundred  yards  from  the  Embassy,  he  said  : 

"  I  shall  keep  my  chauffeur  in  attendance,  and  at  6.15 
precisely,  unless  you  telephone  me  that  your  father  has 
arrived,  I  shall  go  back  to  fetch  him." 

At  about  half-past  five  I  was  fetched  out  of  prison, 
brought  before  the  officer  in  charge,  and  informed  that  I  was 
at  liberty.  The  streets  were  already  dark,  but  when  I  got 
down  to  Galata  bridge  I  found  a  carriage  and  reached  home 
at  five  minutes  past  six,  to  the  delight  of  my  wife  and  daughter. 


^iSam 


,%l*«i^*;v^' 


TAI.AAT    BKY 


THE  AMERICAN  AMBASSADOR  359 

Mr.  Morgenthau  was  at  once  telephoned  to,  and  within 
five  minutes  three  men  from  the  Embassy  came  round  to 
congratulate  me  and  learn  the  details  of  the  news. 

On  the  following  day  Mrs.  Morgenthau  and  her  hus- 
band came  round  to  see  Lady  Pears  and  myself,  and  to 
discuss  the  question  whether  or  not  I  should  remain.  Need- 
less to  say,  my  wife  and  I  had  discussed  it  fully  before  their 
arrival.  After  considerable  hesitation  we  decided  that 
I  should  leave.  My  wife  declared  she  would  not  leave,  and 
especially  for  the  following  reason  :  the  Turks  had  not  up  to 
that  time,  nor  so  far  as  I  can  learn  up  to  the  moment  of  this 
book  going  to  press,  molested  any  British  woman  in  Turkey 
or  plundered  a  British  house  in  which  British  occupants 
remained.  I  cannot  repeat  too  often  that  the  Turk  bears  no 
ill-will  to  Englishmen.  We  knew,  however,  of  two  instances 
of  friends  who  had  quitted  the  country  and  whose  houses 
were  visited  next  day  by  the  police  and  ransacked.  We 
knew  also  of  houses  where  women  only  remained  in  which 
the  contents  had  not  been  touched.  My  wife  was  unwilling 
to  see  her  drawing-room  and  the  belongings  of  our  house, 
which  is  full  of  friendly  associations  ranging  over  upwards 
of  a  quarter  of  a  century,  pass  into  the  hands  of  spoilers. 

I  put  these  considerations  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Morgenthau, 
and  while  they  agreed  that  if  I  remained  I  should  probably 
be  subject  to  constant  worry,  they  also  thought  that  it  was 
unlikely  that  my  wife  and  daughter  would  be  molested. 
Mrs.  Morgenthau  in  her  kindly  way  added  : 

"  They  will  not  be  molested,  but  if  they  are  I  will  take 
both  of  them  into  my  house  and  treat  them  as  sister  and 
daughter." 

Mr.  Morgenthau  supported  his  wife's  statement,  and 
thereupon  I  decided  to  leave  Turkey. 

I  left  Constantinople  on  December  9,  1914.  Many  friends 
of  various  nationalities  went  to  the  station  to  see  me  off. 
The  only  exit  at  that  time  from  the  country  was  by  the 
railway  to  the  Bulgarian  frontier  and  thence  to  Ded6agatch. 
After  a  wearisome  journey  our  train  arrived  at  that  port. 
During  the  next  two  days  I  had  the  opportunity  of  judging 


36o       FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

of  its  miserable  capacity  as  the  sole  seaport  on  the  Aegean 
for  Bulgaria.  I,  however,  met  with  great  kindness  from 
Bulgarians  and  others.  On  the  Friday  morning  another 
train  arrived  from  Constantinople,  bringing  between  seventy 
and  eighty  French  subjects,  the  majority  of  whom  were  nuns. 
On  Saturday  a  French  steamer  arrived  and  was  soon 
crowded  with  passengers.  On  Sunday  morning,  under  the 
beautiful  sky  of  the  Aegean  Indian  summer,  mass  was  cele- 
brated on  the  upper  deck.  To  me  the  ceremony  was  interest- 
ing, but  the  faces  of  the  nuns  were  pathetic.  There  was  one 
old  lady  in  particular  who  was  said  to  be  eighty-five  years 
old  and  who  looked  upwards  of  ninety,  and  both  on  this 
memorable  Sunday  morning  and  during  the  voyage,  it  was 
"  just  lovely,"  as  an  American  lady  observed  to  me,  to  see  the 
kindliness  and  devotion  of  the  nuns  to  their  dear  old  sister. 
In  the  course  of  the  service  three  hymns  were  sung,  one  of 
which  invoked  the  aid  of  the  Virgin  upon  the  arms  of  France. 

From  breakfast-time  until  sunset  we  had  the  glorious  peak 
of  Mount  Athos  on  our  starboard  towering  with  its  8,000 
feet  well  above  a  great  bank  of  clouds.  On  Monday  we 
arrived  in  the  Piraeus,  and  I  took  the  opportunity  of  running 
up  to  Athens  and  calling  at  our  Legation.  Sir  Francis 
Elliot,  the  son  of  Sir  Henry,  shewed  me  a  telegram  that  he 
had  received  from  my  daughter  in  Egypt  asking  news  of  me 
in  consequence  of  her  having  seen  a  telegram  announcing  my 
arrest.  I  was  unfortunately  unable  to  accept  his  invitation 
to  lunch,  because  the  steamer  had  arranged  to  leave  shortly 
after  one  o'clock. 

On  the  following  day  we  arrived  at  Malta.  I  may  mention 
that  before  leaving  Constantinople  I  had  arranged  a  pro- 
gramme to  send  reUef  as  far  as  possible  to  the  many  hun- 
dreds of  distressed  Maltese  subjects  remaining  in  the  city. 
As  soon  as  our  steamer  anchored  under  the  protection  of  the 
Union  Jack,  I  landed,  and  went  at  once  to  the  house  of 
Admiral  Limpus.  I  had  the  good  fortune  to  find  him  and  his 
family  at  home,  and  was  received  by  them  with  all  the  charm 
that  had  endeared  them  to  everybody  whom  they  had  met 
in  Constantinople.    Before  dinner  I  discussed  the  proposal 


THE  AMERICAN  AMBASSADOR  361 

for  the  relief  already  mentioned,  and  the  Admiral  at  once 
promised  his  assistance.  As  I  was  unable  to  accept  an 
invitation  to  remain  on  shore  for  the  night,  the  Admiral 
kindly  took  me  on  board  before  eleven.  One  of  the  special 
subjects  of  interest  in  our  conversation  was  the  now  famous 
destruction  of  the  Messudieh,  which,  as  the  flagship  of  the 
Admiral,  was  well  known  to  him  and  his  family.  No  less 
than  seventeen  French  men-of-war  were  in  the  harbour  at 
Malta,  and  Admiral  Limpus  spoke  with  enthusiasm  of  the 
French  officers  and  of  the  manner  they  had  marked  out  the 
Western  Mediterranean  and  kept  it  clear  for  the  safety  of  all 
travelling  upon  it.  On  the  following  day  we  proceeded  to 
Marseilles,  and  then  without  any  incident  of  more  than 
personal  interest,  I  pushed  on  to  London,  where  I  arrived 
on  the  2ist,  delighted  to  see  once  more  the  white  faces  of 
my  countrymen  and  their  children. 

Before  leaving  Turkey  several  British  and  French  subjects 
asked  me  to  give  expression  to  the  gratitude  they  felt 
towards  the  American  Ambassador,  Mr.  Morgenthau,  and  his 
wife  for  their  watchful  and  kindly  attention,  since  the 
outbreak  of  the  war,  to  the  members  of  the  two  communities. 
All  British,  French,  and  Belgian  subjects  in  Turkey  had  been 
placed  under  American  protection  on  the  declaration  of  war. 
The  amount  of  extra  work  which  this  entailed  on  the 
Ambassador  and  his  staff  was  enormous.  From  early  morn- 
ing to  late  evening  during  several  weeks  both  Embassy  and 
Consulate  were  crowded  with  fugitives  anxious  to  escape 
from  Turkey.  During  these  weeks  I  saw  crowds  of  men  and 
women,  nuns  and  priests,  filling  the  corridors,  and  at  the 
Consulate  reaching  half-way  across  the  street,  waiting  their 
turn  to  be  registered  under  American  protection.  Two 
British  ofiicials  had  remained  behind  for  the  identification 
of  subjects.  The  Turks  during  the  Turco-Italian  war 
had  behaved  not  unkindly  to  Italian  subjects,  but  things 
were  now  changed.  Behind  the  Turks  were  the  Germans, 
and  most  of  them  shewed,  so  far  as  I  could  learn,  no  kindli- 
ness to  anybody.    Every  kind  of  obstacle  was  placed  in  the 


362       FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

way  of  British  and  French  subjects,  and  especially  of  British, 
Turkish  officials  declaring  that  they  intended  to  make 
reprisals  for  what  our  people  had  done  in  Egypt.  Mr. 
Morgenthau  used  his  utmost  endeavours  to  obtain  the  police 
passes,  necessary  in  addition  to  the  registration  papers 
obtainable  at  the  American  Consulate  in  order  to  allow 
British  subjects  to  leave.  Many  were  detained  in  order  that 
they  might  be  forced  to  produce  receipts  for  the  payment  of  a 
poll-tax  known  as  temetu. 

On  various  occasions  Mr.  Morgenthau  was  present  at 
seven  o'clock  in  the  morning  when  the  train  left,  usually 
accompanied  by  his  secretary,  Mr.  Tarler,  to  whom  also  the 
British  and  French  communities  were  greatly  indebted. 
Mr.  Morgenthau  had  constantly  to  intervene  in  order  to  get 
rid  of  objections  urged  merely  to  cause  delay.  On  one 
occasion  he  stated  with  considerable  warmth  to  the  poUce- 
officers  that  he  himself  would  pay  out  of  his  own  pocket  any 
temetu  which  were  found  due.  Some  of  the  most  distressing 
cases  were  those  of  nuns.  All  these  women  had  been  engaged 
in  educational  and  charitable  work,  and  I  do  not  believe  that 
the  Turks  alone  would  have  compelled  them  to  leave  the 
country  if  they  had  not  been  under  the  influence  of  the 
Germans.  The  hardships  necessarily  attending  the  journey- 
ing of  these  women,  nearly  all  of  whom  had  come  from  the 
interior  of  Asia  Minor,  were  heartrending  even  to  hear.  One 
especially  gross  case  was  mentioned  to  me  by  some  of  the 
nuns  and  confirmed  by  a  priest  who  had  been  occupied  in 
their  neighbourhood.  Instead  of  being  permitted  to  go  from 
the  place  where  they  were  stationed  directly  to  Samsun, 
where  they  could  have  been  transported  easily  by  sea  to  the 
capital,  they  had  been  intentionally  sent  round  by  a  different 
route,  which  entailed  a  week's  further  journey  over  a  country 
without  roads.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Morgenthau,  who  are  Jews, 
behaved  magnificently  to  these  Latin  Christians  throughout 
this  period  of  stress  and  trial. 

Let  me  give  instances  :  without  notice  the  police  closed 
the  Girls'  School  of  the  Dames  de  Sion  at  Kadikewi,  a  suburb 
of  Constantinople  on  the  Asiatic  side  of  the  Bosporus.     The 


THE  AMERICAN  AMBASSADOR  363 

girls  were  bundled  out  into  the  street ;  the  sisters  were  told 
to  leave  immediately,  and  the  police  took  possession  of  the 
building.  When  the  Mother  Superior  and  a  few  others 
crossed  the  Bosporus  and  landed  in  Galata  they  were  rudely 
told  they  must  at  once  go  back.  When  Mrs.  Morgenthau 
heard  what  had  been  done,  she  at  once  borrowed  the  steam- 
launch  attached  to  the  Embassy,  took  with  her  a  secretary 
and  a  dragoman,  and  crossed  over  to  Kadikewi.  Her 
presence  alone  gave  the  poor  women  consolation,  for  they 
understood  that  they  would  be  taken  care  of  by  her. 

Mrs.  Morgenthau  and  her  husband  started  off  on  another 
occasion  at  eight  o'clock  on  a  cold  November  morning  to 
see  for  themselves  how  the  sisters  were  being  treated  at 
Chichly,  about  two  miles  from  the  Embassy.  They  arrived 
in  time  to  learn  that  all  of  them  had  been  locked  up  by  the 
poUce  and  were  greatly  alarmed.  The  Ambassador  insisted 
on  their  being  set  free.  Subsequently  a  German  officer, 
who  claimed  that  he  had  been  charged  to  protect  them 
independently  of  the  American  Ambassador,  was  properly 
snubbed  when  he  caused  a  telephonic  message  to  be  trans- 
mitted to  the  Embassy. 

The  personal  interest  which  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Morgenthau 
took  in  the  refugees,  and  especially  in  the  sisters  and  other 
women,  deserves  too  high  praise  for  me  to  attempt  to 
express  it.  It  would  have  been  impertinent  to  attempt  to 
estimate  how  much  she  and  her  husband  had  contributed  out 
of  their  own  pockets.  I  can  only  say  that  on  board  the 
French  steamer,  one  after  the  other  told  me  of  presents  of 
chocolate  and  sandwiches  and  of  other  comforts  which 
enabled  them  to  support  the  weary  journey  from  the  capital 
to  D6deagatch.  I  can  testify  that  the  recipients,  nuns  and 
priests,  were  deeply  grateful,  and  if  these  two  Israelites  were 
prayed  for  by  members  of  a  great  Christian  community 
their  prayers  were  an  expression  of  thankfulness  to  God,  for 
having  sent  them  such  benefactors,  and  to  the  benefactors 
themselves. 

Let  me  conclude  this  part  of  my  subject  by  saying 
that   American  generosity   has    furnished  the   means  in 


364       FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

Constantinople  of  establishing  a  Y.M.C.  A.  At  its  first  annual 
meeting,  as  near  as  I  can  remember  in  the  month  of  Septem- 
ber, 1914,  a  crowded  room  shewed  that  the  Institution  was 
appreciated  by  Greeks,  Armenians,  Turks,  Jews,  and  subjects 
of  various  European  States.  Mr.  Morgenthau  took  the 
chair  and  alluded  to  the  apparent  incongruity  of  his  acting 
as  President  of  a  Christian  Association.  The  only  other 
speakers  on  the  programme  were,  I  believe,  myself  and  my 
friend  Mr.  Frew,  on  whom  his  University,  that  of  Glasgow, 
has  within  the  last  few  weeks  conferred  the  well-merited 
honour  of  LL.D.  The  only  remark  of  any  consequence 
which  I  made  was  that  Jews  and  Christians  were  agreed  that 
for  Turkey  as  well  as  for  other  countries  we  wanted  to  put 
into  practice  the  teaching  of  Micah,  "to  do  justice,  love 
mercy,  and  walk  humbly  in  presence  of  Allah." 

It  will  interest  readers  to  know  that  the  Y.M.C. A.  of 
Constantinople  has  the  warm  and  practical  sympathy  of  the 
two  Patriarchs  of  the  Orthodox  and  Armenian  Churches 
respectively,  and  is  not  without  support  from  the  leading 
dignitaries  of  the  Latin  Church  in  Constantinople.  The 
present  representative  in  Constantinople  of  our  English 
Church,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Wigram,  who  was  for  ten  years 
attached  to  the  Archbishop's  Nestorian  mission,  has  at  all 
times  been  ready  to  give  the  Y.M.C.A.  his  aid.  Let  me  add 
in  reference  to  him  that  two  months  ago  Dr.  Wigram  played 
the  part  of  a  man.  When  at  the  instigation  of  the  Germans 
fifty  Englishmen  were  selected  to  be  sent  down  to  Gallipoli 
in  order  that  they  might  stand  their  chance  in  the  bombard- 
ment of  that  city.  Dr.  Wigram  claimed  that  one  man  who 
was  married  and  had  a  family  should  be  released,  and  that  he. 
Dr.  Wigram,  should  be  sent  in  his  place.  The  authorities 
objected  that  as  a  priest  they  had  nothing  against  him  and 
that  he  was  privileged  to  remain  free.  He  protested  and  his 
claim  was,  I  believe,  supported  by  Mr.  Morgenthau.  He 
played  the  game  and  voluntarily  placed  himself  as  a  sub- 
stitute for  the  father  of  a  family.  It  is  satisfactory  to  note 
that  as  soon  as  Sir  Edward  Grey  declared  in  the  House  of 
Commons  that  if  any  of  the  hostages  were  killed  England 


THE  AMERICAN  AMBASSADOR  365 

would  hold  the  Grand  Vizier  and  Enver  Pasha  personally 
responsible,  the  hostages  were  taken  back  to  Constantinople 
and  released. 

I  may  be  permitted  to  mention  that  immediately  after  the 
visit  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Morgenthau  to  Chichly  they  went  to  the 
English  High  School  for  Girls,  of  which  for  many  years  I 
have  been  chairman.  They  found  that  the  police  had 
entered  it,  had  ordered  the  children  there  and  then  to  be 
sent  home,  and  one  of  the  police  had  been  extremely  rude  to 
our  Principal,  Miss  Charters.  It  happened  that  when  the 
Ambassador  arrived  the  chief  of  poUce,  Bedri  Bey,  came  in 
at  the  same  moment.  Our  Principal  reported  the  insolence 
to  the  Ambassador,  who  at  once  took  the  matter  up,  and  the 
culprit  had  to  eat  very  humble  pie. 


CHAPTER   XXIV 

SHORT  AND  PERSONAL 

ON  the  occasion  of  my  being  knighted,  June,  1909,  I 
received  a  great  number  of  congratulatory  letters 
from  men  of  all  shades  of  poUtical  opinion.  Before 
I  left  London,  after  receiving  the  accolade,  the  Daily  News 
gave  a  lunch  in  my  honour  at  the  Whitehall  Rooms. 
Three  members  of  the  Government  were  present,  and 
two  others  sent  expressions  of  regret  that  ParUamentary 
duties  prevented  their  attendances.  Mr.  A.  G.  Gardner,  the 
editor,  was  in  the  chair,  and  the  gathering  included  many  of 
the  leading  men  in  England  who  had  sympathised  with  the 
Young  Turks  in  shaking  off  Abdul  Hamid's  tyranny,  and  of 
those  who  a  generation  earUer  had  helped  Bulgaria  to  obtain 
her  freedom  and  who  were  doing  what  little  they  could  to 
assist  the  Armenians.  Among  the  veterans  were  Lord 
Eversley  and  Mr.  Frederic  Harrison.  Among  the  younger 
men  were  Professor  Bury,  Mr.  Edward  Atkin,  and  many 
others,  including  my  two  youngest  sons. 

The  many  kindly  statements  made  by  the  Chairman  and 
other  speakers  marked  a  high  appreciation  of  my  services, 
and  were  intensely  gratifying  to  me.  Not  the  least  pleasant 
were  the  kindly  notices  in  the  leading  conservative  papers. 
On  my  retium  to  Constantinople  the  greetings  that  I  there 
received  were  equally  agreeable.  Amongst  the  many 
letters  was  one  shewn  though  not  addressed  to  me  by  one  of 
the  partners  of  the  leading  British  firm  in  Smyrna,  which 
said,  "  You  cannot  imagine  how  the  knighting  has  touched 
the  whole  of  the  British  community  in  this  place.    Every- 

366 


SHORT  AND  PERSONAL  367 

body  feels  that  it  is  an  honour  conferred  upon  our  com- 
munity, and  we  are  each  and  all  proud  of  it." 

Six  or  seven  years  earlier  I  had  been  unanimously  elected, 
during  my  absence  in  England,  President  of  the  Prinkipo 
Yachting  Club,   a  flourishing  institution  which  includes 
Turks,  Greeks,  Armenians,  and  subjects  of  nearly  every 
European  State.    The  leading  members  insisted  on  giving 
me  a  public  dinner  in  recognition  of  the  honour  which  King 
Edward  had  conferred  upon  me.    A  few  weeks  later,  when 
the  Pera  population  had  returned  from  the  Bosporus  and  the 
islands   to  their  winter  residences,  I  learned  that  certain 
members  of  the  Turkish  Bar  had  arranged  with  the  leaders 
of  the  European  Bar  to  give  a  dinner  in  my  honour.    The 
oldest  member  of  the  European  Bar  (which  is  open  to  the 
advocates  of  all  European  States  except  Turkey),  Maitre 
Rosasco,  an  Italian,  presided  and  was  supported  by  two 
Moslem  colleagues.     Here  again  I  do  not  propose  to  give  any 
but  the  most  general  account  of  what  was  said,  but  the 
commonest  remark  was  that  the  incident  was  unprecedented 
for  Constantinople.    "  Such  a  gathering,"  said  one  of  the 
speakers,  "  of  jurists  representing  every  important  Euro- 
pean nation  has  probably  not  taken  place  in  Constantinople 
since  the  time  of  Justinian."  The  proceedings  were  naturally 
in  French  and  were  of  an  enthusiastic  character.    Most 
of  the  speakers  had  more  often  been  my  legal  opponents 
than  my  colleagues.    One  in  particular.  Dr.  L.  F.  Mizzi, 
declared  that  he  had  fought  me  continuously  during  nearly 
forty  years.    It  was  pleasant  to  hear  that  I  was  regarded 
by  all  as  a  staunch  colleague  and  a  fair  fighting  adversary. 
A  Belgian  pronounced  a  brilliant  eulogy,  an  Austrian  could 
say  nothing  but  what  was  flattering,  an  Itahan,  with  the 
flow  of  musical  language  characteristic  of  his  nation,  put 
me  upon  an  imaginary  trial  in  which  he  brought  all  sorts  of 
charges  against  me  of  which  an  advocate  ought  not  to  be 
guilty,  and  dismissed  them  one  after  another,  to  the  great 
amusement  of  his  audience.    It  was  a  gathering  of  my 
many  years'  colleagues  to  be  remembered  with  satisfaction  to 
the  day  of  my  death. 


CHAPTER  XXV 

THE  PAST  AND  THE  FUTURE 

Among  the  Archaeologists — Rev.  John  Peters — ^Pro- 
fessor Hilprecht — George  Smith — Hittite  Investi- 
gators— Mr.  Hogarth,  Mr.  Garstang,  and  Professor 
Sayce — ^Distinguished  Explorers  for  the  Palestine  Ex- 
ploration Fund — My  Archaeological  Work  in  Constan- 
tinople— ^Rev.  Dr.  van  Millingen — Bishops  of  Salisbury, 
Peterborough,  and  Gibraltar — ^Dr.  Spooner,  Canon 
Shoobridge,  and  Other  Clergymen — Visit  of  Mr.  Choate, 
Ambassador,  to  St.  James's — Visits  to  Renowned  His- 
torical Sites,  Ephesus  Especially — British  Colony  in 
Turkey — Thoughts  on  the  Future  of  Turkey  and 
Notably  of  Constantinople. 

IN  compiling  this  volume  of  reminiscences  my  difficulty 
has  been  to  know  what  to  omit.     I  can  truthfully  say 
that  my  life  in  Turkey  has  been  a  full  one.     The  time 
has  passed  all  too  rapidly. 

I  have  said  practically  nothing  about  my  legal  practice 
and  nothing  of  certain  incidents  which  arose  on  the  occasions 
when  I  was  "  acting  "  judge ;  but  I  should  like  to  say 
something  of  my  occupation  and  interests  outside  my 
profession. 

My  residence  in  Constantinople  brought  me  the  constant 
pleasure  of  intercourse  with  leading  archaeologists.  I  have 
already  spoken  of  Troy  and  my  acquaintance  with  Dr. 
Schliemann  and  Dr.  Paspates.  One  of  the  subjects  which  first 
deeply  interested  me  was  the  discovery  of  Nippur,  the  Calneh 
of  Genesis  x.  lo.  To  the  Rev.  John  Peters,  an  Episcopal 
clergyman  of  New  York,  belongs  the  honour  of  first  having 
uncovered  the  Moimd  of  Nippur,  which  is  just  outside  the 
bounds  of  Mesopotamia.  On  his  leaving  for  America  his  task 

368 


THE  PAST  AND  THE  FUTURE  369 

was  continued  by  Professor  Hilprecht  for  the  Pennsylvania 
University.  The  result  of  their  working  has  been  to  push 
back  the  records  of  Sumian  civilisation  certainly  7000, 
probably  8000  years  B.C.  The  thousands  of  inscriptions 
on  clay  tablets  and  on  stone  which  exist  in  the  Constantinople 
Museum  and  in  that  of  Philadelphia  have  reopened  a  world 
of  history  and  even  of  literature.  On  a  few  occasions  I 
was  consulted  by  Hilprecht  as  to  the  classification  of  some  of 
the  documents  which  he  had  deciphered.  When  he  had  to 
deal  with  the  later  periods  of  Ass3n:ian  history  the  inscriptions 
are  as  easy  to  be  read  by  those  acquainted  with  cuneiform 
script  and  language  as  if  they  were  in  modern  print ;  and  it 
is  tempting  to  speak  of  some  of  the  results  which  these 
discoveries  have  already  revealed  to  the  world. 

In  the  early  period  of  my  residence  I  met  poor  George 
Smith,  the  genius  who  astonished  the  world  by  his  repro- 
duction of  tablets  which  were  presumably  in  the  hands  of  the 
compiler  of  the  Mosaic  cosmogony.  He  stayed  with  me  on 
his  first  voyage  to  Mossul,  and  on  his  starting  upon  the  second. 
In  the  autumn  of  1876  I  travelled  with  Mrs.  Skene,  the  wife 
of  the  British  Consul  at  Aleppo,  at  whose  house  Smith — 
worn  out  by  an  overland  journey  from  Bagdad  which  in  his 
enfeebled  health  he  ought  not  to  have  taken — died. 

The  discovery  of  Hittite  civiUsation  brought  me  the 
friendship  of  all  the  EngUsh  explorers  who  are  connected 
with  that  achievement :  Mr.  Hogarth,  whose  valuable  work 
in  many  fields  is  well  known,  and  who,  notwithstanding  the 
war,  will,  I  trust,  be  able  to  clear  up  the  various  questions 
connected  with  Carchemish,  the  southern  capital  of  the 
Hittites  ;  Mr.  John  Garstang,  who  has  already  achieved  good 
results  at  Sakje-Guje,  though  neither  he  nor  Mr.  Hogarth, 
nor  the  German  Herr  Otto  Wynckler  at  Boghazkewi,  the 
northern  capital,  have  yet  succeeded  in  finding  a  bilingual. 
Nor  in  connection  with  Hittite  discovery  must  the  labours  of 
Professor  Sayce  be  forgotten.  Sir  William  Ramsay  and  his 
wife  we  have  often  had  the  pleasure  of  meeting,  and  it  is 
probably  fully  thirty  years  ago,  when  at  Smyrna,  that  the  late 
Mr.  Humann,  the  explorer  of  Pergamum,  told  me  that  though 

BB 


370       FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

he  was  proud  of  what  he  had  done  in  that  place  and  of  what 
the  Austrians  had  accompUshed  at  Ephesus,  yet  that 
Ramsay,  without  Government  aid,  had  done  better  than  all. 

At  one  time  it  looked  as  if  England  were  dropping  behind 
in  archaeological  research  in  Asia  Minor  and  Sjnia,  but  the 
Ramsays  and  the  men  whose  names  I  have  already  men- 
tioned j  and  Miss  Gertrude  Lothian  Bell,  together  with  Lord 
Kitchener,  Gordon,  Macalister,  Sir  Charles  Wilson,  Sir 
Charles  Watson,  and  the  other  distinguished  men  who  have 
worked  at  the  exploration  of  Palestine,  have  removed  that 
reproach. 

In  reference  to  Constantinople  itself,  my  own  interest  and 
studies  of  its  history  have  brought  me  the  friendship,  or  at 
least  the  acquaintance,  of  a  number  of  distinguished  scholars. 
Probably  the  man  who  knows  most  of  the  archaeology  of  the 
city  is  my  friend  Dr.  Alexander  van  Millingen,  whose  two 
volumes — one  of  the  Walls  of  Constantinople  and  the  other 
on  its  Ancient  Christian  Churches,  will  remain  the  standard 
books  on  the  subject  as  long  as  people  are  interested  in  the 
history  of  our  great  city. 

It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  of  the  many  distinguished 
scholars  who  have  found  their  way  to  Constantinople  during 
the  last  forty  years  and  who  have  been  interested  in  at  least 
some  portion  of  its  history,  all,  or  nearly  all,  have  found  their 
way  to  our  house.  It  has  been  the  pride  and  joy  of  my 
wife,  as  it  has  been  my  own,  to  meet  such  men  and  to  show 
them  what  kindness  we  could.  Sir  William  Ramsay  has 
spoken  of  it  as  a  house  of  call  for  archaeologists. 

I  have  mentioned  incidentally  the  visit  I  received  from 
Dean  Armitage  Robinson.  The  learned  Bishop  Words- 
worth of  Salisbury  accompanied  me  round  the  Walls  and 
took  an  archaeologist's  interest  in  several  matters.  The 
Bishop  of  Peterborough  and  Lady  Mary  Glyn,  whose 
kindness  I  shall  always  remember,  made  the  same  pleasant 
trip.  But  the  ecclesiastic  who  took  the  most  interest  in 
these  outings  was  Bishop  Collins.  The  numerous  notices 
that  appeared  in  England  upon  his  premature  death  per- 
mitted me  to  understand  how  highly  he  was  valued  by  the 


THE  PAST  AND  THE  FUTURE  371 

best  men  in  the  Church.  If  time  and  space  would  permit,  I 
could  tell  several  interesting  stories  about  him,  the  general 
effect  of  which  would  be  to  show  that  he  was  a  man  of 
singularly  wide  reading  in  early  Church  history  and  of 
excellent  judgment,  especially  in  reference  to  the  work 
accomplished  and  still  being  done  in  the  Eastern  Churches. 
He  was  a  great  man  as  well  as  a  great  Churchman,  and  his 
loss  was  a  very  serious  one  to  the  whole  of  the  British  com- 
munities between  Gibraltar  and  Batum.  Or  again  I  should 
like  to  tell  of  a  delightful,  short  visit  with  Dr.  Spooner, 
Warden  of  New  College,  Oxford,  to  the  late  patriarch 
Joachim  and  afterwards  to  the  grand  old  man  of  the  Eastern 
Church,  Bishop  Briennios  of  Ismidt,  the  discoverer  of  the 
Didaki,  the  Teaching  of  the  Apostles,  I  should  Uke  also  to 
speak  of  my  very  dear  friends  Canon  and  Mrs.  Shoobridge, 
from  Tasmania,  and  of  our  visit  together  to  my  old  friend  the 
Armenian  patriarch  Ourmanian,  and  of  a  number  of  others. 
That  journey  indeed  round  the  walls  of  our  city  recalls 
pleasant  times  when  accompanied  by  Mr.  Shaw  Tefevre, 
now  Lord  Eversley,  Mr.  Frederic  Harrison,  or  by  others, 
among  whom  I  must  not  forget  J.  B,  Bury,  Regius 
Professor  of  History  at  Cambridge,  a  scholar  who  by  his 
notes  to  Gibbon,  as  well  as  by  his  other  historical  studies, 
has  placed  himself  in  the  first  rank  of  historians.  My 
friendship  of  nearly  half  a  century  ago  recalls  three  long 
visits  from  Rev.  Brooke  Lambert. 

I  had  many  visits  from  German  and  French  Professors  of 
History  and  other  interesting  persons  great  in  their  own 
sphere.  The  fact  that  in  a  lecture  I  had  given  I  had  shown 
my  appreciation  of  his  writings  possibly  did  something  to 
bring  about  a  delightful  visit  from  Mr.  and  Mrs.  James 
Russell  Lowell.  At  a  later  period  Mr.  Choate,  then  American 
Ambassador  to  London,  came  to  Constantinople.  I  had  met 
him  at  dinner  at  the  British  Embassy,  and  the  fact  that 
years  before  I  had  reviewed  the  Life  of  Mr.  Rufus  Choate 
(I  think  an  uncle)  perhaps  induced  him  to  tell  me  more  good 
stories  of  that  distinguished  American  lawyer.  The  visit  of 
Mr.  Choate  led  to  an  incident  which  has  its  amusing  side. 


372       FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

We  had  arranged  to  go  round  Stambul  and  see  some  of 
the  less  known  objects  of  interest.  It  was  at  a  time  when 
espionage  was  at  its  worst,  and  I  had  the  honom*  always  to 
be  upon  the  Black  List  of  Abdul  Hamid's  press  department. 
Our  carriage  was  to  start  from  the  British  Embassy  and 
pick  me  up  at  our  own  house.  Now  that  house  was,  and 
is,  immediately  opposite  what  may  be  called  the  Town 
Hall.  The  Sultan,  wishing  to  show  respect  to  the  American 
Ambassador  to  Great  Britain,  arranged  to  send  one  of  the 
somewhat  gorgeous  palace  carriages  to  be  at  his  disposal. 
Accordingly,  after  an  early  lunch  a  palace  carriage  con- 
taining the  Ambassador  and  two  ladies — I  think 
Mrs.  and  Miss  Choate — drew  up  before  my  door.  The 
Ambassador  came  upstairs  for  two  or  three  minutes,  and  it 
was  arranged,  as  usual,  that  the  party  should  return  to  tea. 

We  accomplished  our  expedition  very  satisfactorily,  and 
in  returning  again  stopped  at  the  house.  The  windows  of 
the  Town  Hall  were  crowded  with  faces  to  see  the  palace 
carriage,  and  we  were  amused  for  days  to  hear  the  con- 
jectures as  to  the  explanation  of  the  carriage  being  before  our 
door. 

I  should  like  to  have  added  reminiscences  of  the  many 
visits  I  have  made  into  the  interior  of  Asia  Minor,  notably 
of  one  in  1913  with  Mr.  Frew  to  Konia,  the  ancient  Iconium  ; 
to  Jerusalem,  whose  unique  history  as  the  sacred  city  of  the 
three  great  monotheistic  religions  must  always  hold  the 
highest  place  ;  to  Baalbek,  whose  colossal  ruins  drill  into  the 
visitor's  mind  the  fact  that  the  great  temples  of  the  world, 
like  probably  many  churches  in  England,  were  built  rather 
to  the  honour  and  glory  of  the  god  than  to  serve  the  ordinary 
purposes  of  worship.  Laodacia,  Pergamum,  Patmos  and 
Rhodes,  Chios  and  Cyprus,  all  recall  visits  full  of  interest,  but 
especially  Hierapolis.  Fancy  a  larger  Harrogate  or  Bath 
absolutely  deserted  except  for  a  few  Euruks,  or  gypsies.  Its 
two  theatres,  one  of  which  would  seat  probably  20,000 
people  and  the  other  15,000,  its  ruined  temples,  churches, 
baths  all  deserted ;  but  the  stream  of  hot  water,  which  once 
made  the  prosperity  of  the  city  and  caused  it  to  be  frequented 


THE  PAST  AND  THE  FUTURE  373 

in  Roman  and  Byzantine  times,  still  wells  up  and  runs 
through  the  streets  in  channels  which  it  has  largely  worn  for 
itself,  until  the  volume  of  warm  water  falls  over  a  cliff, 
making  a  series  of  precipices  resembling,  though  on  a  much 
smaller  scale,  the  famous  terraces  of  New  Zealand.  I  visited 
it  with  my  friends  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bliss,  whose  home,  first  at 
Sochia  and  afterwards  at  Boujah,  in  the  suburbs  of  Smyrna, 
was  always  a  model  of  family  life. 

But  though  all  these  places  and  a  score  of  others  which  I 
have  visited  are  interesting,  yet,  in  certain  respects,  the  most 
impressive  of  all  is  Ephesus.  To  sit  in  its  great  theatre  and 
read  the  chapter  of  the  Acts  of  the  Apostle  giving  account  of 
the  riot  created  by  the  worshippers  of  Diana,  brings  the  scene 
in  the  most  vivid  manner  before  one.  Seated  in  the  gallery, 
with  the  once  busy  Bay  of  Ephesus,  now  a  dried-up  marsh, 
before  us,  with  the  ruins  of  many  buildings  connected  by 
history  or  legend  with  the  Early  Church  and  Byzantine  his- 
tory is  amongst  the  most  vivid  experiences  I  have  ever  had. 

My  recollection  of  visitors  and  friends  in  Constantinople 
recalls  the  inevitable  result  that  a  large  number  of  them  have 
joined  the  majority.  It  is  impossible  that  one  should  have 
lived  forty-two  years  in  a  city  like  Constantinople,  of  many 
nationalities,  without  forming  attachments  that  are  very 
dear.  The  British  families,  some  of  which  have  been  settled 
in  Turkey  and  who  constitute  colonies  which  by  virtue  of 
the  Capitulations  have  preserved  to  each  member  his  national 
character,  are  communities  of  which  England  may  well  be 
proud.  At  the  outbreak  of  the  present  war  thirty-three 
men  in  Constantinople,  nearly  all  of  good  famiUes,  volun- 
teered to  fight  for  their  King.  I  should  think  that  fully 
half  of  them  have  now  acquired  commissions.  Some  bright 
young  fellows  with  promising  careers  have  become  victims 
of  the  war.  George  V.  has  no  more  loyal  subjects  than 
the  EngHshmen  settled  in  Constantinople  and  other  places 
in  the  Turkish  empire.     I  am  proud  of  them. 

In  concluding  these  reminiscences  of  my  sojourn  in  Turkey 
I  may  be  excused  if  I  venture  to  suggest  considerations 


374  FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 
which  in  my  opinion  will  have  to  be  taken  into  account  in 
forming  an  opinion  as  to  the  future  of  Constantinople  and 
the  various  races  now  under  Turkish  rule.  Perhaps  the 
first  question  which  arises  in  the  mind  of  the  reader  is 
whether  Turkey  can  again  become  an  empire  entitled  to 
rank  among  the  Great  Powers.  In  answering  it,  the  future 
of  Constantinople  becomes  a  highly  important  factor.  Its 
destiny  may  be  (i)  to  remain  in  the  hands  of  the  Turks  under 
the  masterful  rule  of  the  Germans ;  or  (2)  to  pass  into  the 
occupation  of  Russia  ;  or  (3)  to  become  the  capital  of  a  small 
internationalised  State  surrounding  the  Marmara,  the 
Bosporus,  and  the  Dardanelles. 

A  fourth  probabiUty  may  be  suggested,  namely,  that  it 
should  be  left  as  now  to  the  Turks.  This  would  imply  not 
only  that  the  AlUes  should  be  entirely  defeated,  but  that 
Germany  and  Austria  should  also  be  so  weakened  that  they 
would  not  be  able  to  impose  their  will  on  Turkey.  To  antici- 
pate such  a  conclusion  of  the  war  is  to  pass  out  of  the  region 
of  practical  politics.  Turkey  has  linked  her  fate  in  the  war 
with  that  of  Germany  and  her  ally.  If  they  should  win, 
Turkey  will  become  a  State  subject  to  Germany.  I  have 
held  the  opinion  for  many  years  that  Germany  has  chosen 
the  Turkish  empire  as  her  "  place  in  the  sun,"  and  that  she 
has  steadily  worked  with  the  object  of  bringing  Turkey 
under  her  rule.  I  have  even  beUeved  in  the  probability  of  a 
partition  of  Turkey  with  the  consent  of  Great  Britain  and 
France,  if  her  rulers  did  not  shew  themselves  capable  of 
reconciling  the  Armenian,  Greek,  and  Arab  populations.  If 
the  present  war  had  not  intervened  it  appeared  to  me 
probable  (i)  that  Russia,  with  an  Armenian  population 
almost  if  not  quite  as  large  as  that  in  Turkey,  could  no  more 
tolerate  the  misgovemment  and  outrages  in  neighbouring 
Armenia  than  she  had  been  able  to  tolerate  that  in  any  of 
the  Balkan  States ;  (2)  that  in  the  general  European  abhor- 
rence of  such  misgovemment  and  poUtical  annoyance 
occasioned  thereby,  every  Power  in  Europe  would  have 
been  wiUing  to  permit  or  even  invite  Russia  to  enter  Asia 
Minor  and  annex  a  strip  of  coimtry  through  Armenia  proper 


THE  PAST  AND  THE  FUTURE  375 

and  Little  Armenia,  as  far  as  and  including  Alexandretta  ; 
that  Germany  in  compensation  would  have  been  allowed 
to  exercise  an  overlordship  over  Constantinople  and  the 
remainder  of  Asia  Minor  ;  and  (3)  that  special  international 
arrangements  would  be  made  for  Palestine,  Syria,  and 
Arabia.  Many  facts  pointed  to  such  a  solution.  I  had  even 
arrived  at  the  conclusion  that  the  British  Government  had 
given  in  its  adhesion  generally  to  a  solution  on  these  lines. 
It  would  have  been  compatible  with  such  plan  that  the 
Dardanelles  and  the  Bosporus  should  be  dismantled  and 
that  Russia  should  have — as  she  ought  to  have — as  free  right 
of  passage  through  both  straits  as  all  nations  have  through 
those  of  Dover.  The  evidence  that  Great  Britain  acquiesced 
generally  in  such  solution  appeared  to  me,  as  far  back  as 
1906,  and  still  appears  to  me,  abundant. 

The  events,  however,  of  the  last  six  or  seven  years  have 
convinced  me  that  Germany  contemplated  a  much  wider 
scheme.  She  apparently  aimed  at  a  grandiose  project  by 
which  she  and  Austria  would  annex  Serbia,  force  a  way  to 
Salonica  and  employ  that  city  and  its  magnificent  harbour  as 
a  basis  of  operations  against  Turkey,  which  she  proposed  to 
annex  or  to  convert  into  a  tributary  state.  I  have  in  various 
places  mentioned  facts  which  support  my  opinion  of  this 
scheme,  and  need  not  here  repeat  them.  Her  unstinted 
support  of  Abdul  Hamid,  her  cruel  abstention  from  protest- 
ing against  outrages  on  the  Armenians  even  in  Constan- 
tinople itself,  her  lavish  expenditure  of  money  in  order  to 
obtain  support  for  her  railway  and  other  useful  projects,  the 
Kaiser's  bid  for  the  leadership  of  the  Moslem  world,  the 
readiness  with  which  Germany  furnished  soldiers  for  the 
training  of  the  Turkish  army,  the  unwillingness  which  she 
and  Austria  shewed  to  join  the  other  Powers  in  attempting 
to  secure  protection  for  life  and  property  in  Macedonia,  all 
point  to  a  design  by  which  not  only  was  Germany  to  obtain 
a  dominant  influence  over  Turkey,  but  should  be  placed  in  a 
position  to  do  what  she  liked  in  Asia  Minor.  When  we 
reached  the  eve  of  the  present  war  Germany  had  already 
laid  her  plans  for  forcing  Turkey  to  take  part  in  it  on  her  side. 


376       FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

The  Turks  naturally  would  be  opposed  to  such  a  solution. 
It  would  mean  for  them  the  end  of  Turkey  as  an  independent 
state.  The  Young  Turkey  Party  who  were  in  office  in 
August,  1914,  and  are  still  there,  determined  to  remain 
neutral.  The  evidence  in  the  White  Paper,  "  Events  leading 
to  the  Rupture  with  Turkey,"  published  in  November, 
1914,  shews  that  the  Turkish  Ministers  were  all  but  unani- 
mous in  their  endeavour  to  maintain  neutrality. 

They  were,  however,  rushed  into  war,  and  the  position  is 
therefore  changed,  and  the  present  question  appears  to  be  : 
Will  Turkey  be  allowed  to  retain  Constantinople  ?  Of  course 
I  do  not  know  what  arrangements  actually  exist  among  the 
Entente  Powers,  and  therefore  must  discuss  the  question  as 
if  no  arrangement  regarding  the  disposal  of  Constantinople 
in  the  event  of  their  complete  success  exists.  On  the  one 
hand,  objections  to  the  city  being  delivered  to  Russia  are  the 
following  :  Constantinople  would  be  a  Russian  port  detached 
from  the  empire  and  inaccessible  under  present  conditions 
except  by  the  Black  Sea,  which,  during  the  winter  months, 
still  retains  its  evil  reputation.  If  Russia  possessed  it  and 
wished  to  have  land  transit  she  could  only  obtain  it  by 
crushing  Rumania  and  Bulgaria.  To  do  so  would  be  a 
difficult  task  in  comparison  with  which  the  annexation  of 
Finland  would  be  comparatively  easy.  Russia  at  the 
present  time  has  the  gratitude  of  every  Balkan  State. 
To  them  she  is  the  Deliverer,  and  the  strongest  argmnents 
that  have  been  used  in  Rumania  and  Bulgaria  to  prevent 
these  States  joining  the  Entente  Powers  is  that  they  would 
be  endangering  their  own  future  by  allowing  Russia  to  obtain 
possession  of  Constantinople.  I  need  not  repeat  what 
three  Czars  of  Russia,  looking  at  the  matter  with  the  eyes  of 
statesmen,  have  said  against  the  permanent  occupation  of 
the  city.  By  such  occupation  she  would  lose  her  prestige  in 
the  Balkans  as  shown  in  the  glorious  epithet  she  has  obtained 
as  their  Deliverer  and  Protector,  and  make  permanent  enemies 
of  the  flourishing  Balkan  States.  Moreover,  for  reasons 
which  I  have  set  out  elsewhere,  I  believe  that  Constantinople 
can  never  acquire  the  world  importance  which  she  once 


THE  PAST  AND  THE  FUTURE  377 

possessed.  To  own  a  second-rate  seaport  isolated  from 
the  rest  of  the  empire  would  bring  the  great  Eastern 
empire  neither  profit  nor  renown.  On  the  other  hand 
there  undoubtedly  exists  in  Russia  a  feeling  that  one 
of  the  great  objects  of  the  war  is  the  acquisition  of  Con- 
stantinople. As  already  mentioned,  Skobeleff  stated  a 
generation  ago,  "  Every  Russian  is  born  with  the  belief  that 
it  is  the  destiny  of  his  country  to  possess  it."  When  I  put 
forward  the  suggestion  that  the  city  should  be  neutralised 
it  was  met  by  a  storm  of  opposition  by  the  popular  journals 
of  Russia.  Should  success  in  the  war  place  it  at  the  disposal 
of  the  Entente,  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  its  fate  will  be  decided 
so  far  as  Russia  is  concerned  by  the  statesmen  of  that 
country,  and  not  by  ignorant  popular  clamour. 

In  order  to  find  an  answer  to  the  question  :  Can  Turkey 
again  become  a  State  entitled  to  rank  among  the  European 
Powers  ?  many  considerations  have  to  be  remembered,  of 
which  the  following  are  the  most  important.  Since  1683, 
when  Turkey's  progress  as  a  nation  received  its  first  check, 
she  has  been  steadily  declining.  From  1453,  when  Mahomet 
II.  captured  Constantinople,  up  to  that  date,  the  Ottoman 
Turks  had  been  as  steadily  advancing.  In  1683  they  were 
besieging  Vienna,  and  the  city  was  relieved  by  John  Sobieski, 
King  of  Poland.  Every  quarter  of  a  century  since  that  date 
has  seen  the  loss  of  some  portion  of  Turkish  territory.  In 
1683  she  exercised  lordship  over  all  Hungary  and  part  of 
Austria ;  over  all  Rumania  and  every  inch  of  the  Balkan 
peninsula ;  over  every  country  in  North  Africa  from  the 
Red  Sea  to  the  Atlantic ;  over  the  Caucasus  and  a  part  of 
Persia,  over  Crete,  Cyprus,  and  all  the  islands  of  the  Aegean. 

With  insignificant  exceptions  Turkey  has  never  regained 
territory  which  she  has  once  lost.  The  exceptions  to  which 
I  allude  are  not  numerous,  but  I  call  them  insignificant 
because  the  territory  regained  by  Turkey  has  soon  been 
recovered  by  the  rival  state.  Not  to  do  more  than 
mention  that  in  the  south  of  Russia  the  Crimea  and  adjacent 
lands  changed  hands,  but  are  now  definitely  Moscovite,  I 
may  take  an  illustration  within  the  memory  of  most  readers. 


378       FORTY  YEARS  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 

Greece  in  1897  lost  and  Turkey  gained  small  strips  of 
territory  in  Thessaly  and  Epirus.  In  191 2  Greece  regained 
and  Turkey  lost  not  only  these  strips  but  great  additional 
territory. 

The  Moslem  population  of  Asia  Minor  is  steadily  decreas- 
ing. For  facts  relating  to  this  decrease  I  refer  my  readers  to 
my  volume  published  in  1911,  Turkey  and  its  People.  The 
Turks  properly  so-called  were  nomads  whose  habitat  was 
south  central  Asia.  Until  the  Crimean  war  of  1853-6  there 
was  a  constant  though  constantly  diminishing  stream  of 
Turkish  immigrants  trickling  into  Asia  Minor  and  strength- 
ening the  Moslem  element.  Russia's  occupation  of  the 
Caucasus  and  Georgia  and  Russian  administration  have 
dammed  this  supply.  The  Turks  in  their  original  home  were 
probably,  like  other  nomads,  the  gypsies  for  instance  in 
England,  never  prolific.  Nor  does  polygamy  tend  to  change 
the  situation  ;  for  though  that  practice  and  concubinage  are 
lawful,  the  testimony  of  many  writers  who  have  lived  in 
Turkey,  including  notably  some  English  ladies,  shows  that 
with  occasional  exceptions  Moslem  families  in  Turkey  are 
comparatively  small. 

The  modem  Turk  has  lost  the  barbaric  delight  in  fighting. 
The  Moslem  fights  well  when  under  discipline,  especially 
European,  as  witness  the  conduct  of  the  Zouaves  under 
France  and  of  Moslem  troops  in  India.  But  he  has  not,  as 
his  ancestors  had,  a  passionate  desire  for  war  for  war's  sake. 
Even  in  this  present  year,  1915,  Turkish  regiments  in  Syria 
and  in  Smyrna  refused  to  be  sent  to  the  front,  as  their 
predecessors  had  refused  to  be  sent  to  Arabia.  My  explana- 
tion is  that  the  Turks  have  so  intermarried  with  Christians 
as  to  have  lost  the  ancient  delight  in  battle.  A  British 
consul  tells  the  story  of  his  being  present  less  than  ten 
years  ago  in  Trebizond,  when  a  friendly  question  arose  in  the 
Governor's  house  among  several  notables  as  to  how  far  those 
present  and  other  Moslem  dignitaries  of  the  neighbourhood 
were  Turkish  in  blood.  One  of  them,  an  influential  man, 
boldly  said,  "  None  of  us  are.  You  all  know  that  when  our 
fathers  or  grandfathers  wanted  a  wife  they  looked  out  for 


THE  PAST  AND  THE  FUTURE  379 

the  prettiest  Armenian  or  Greek  girl  and  simply  took  her. 
How  can  we  be  pure  Turks  in  blood  ?  " 

The  present  war,  whatever  its  result,  will  still  further 
weaken  Turkey.  The  Allies  will  either  defeat  Turkey  or  be 
beaten  by  her.  If  they  win,  most  of  the  provinces  in 
Eastern  Asia  Minor  will  come  under  Russian  rule.  If  they 
lose,  the  Armenians  will  become  a  more  disturbing  element 
to  Turkey  than  they  have  ever  yet  been,  for  during  the  war 
they  have  not  only  been  foolishly  persecuted  where  they 
should  have  been  cherished,  and  have  lost  all  hope  of 
living  in  harmony  with  their  Moslem  masters,  but  they  have 
gained  the  hope  that  they  will  soon  be  under  Christian, 
though  Russian,  rule. 

From  these  indications  I  conclude  that  it  is  highly  im- 
probable that  Turkey  can  ever  again  be  considered  as  one 
of  the  Great  Powers.  Nevertheless,  the  fact  must  not  be 
lost  sight  of  that  there  are  probably  seven  millions  of  Moslems 
who  still  claim  to  be  Osmanlis.  They  have  a  right  to  exist 
as  a  nation,  and  a  huge  political  blunder  will  be  committed  if 
they  are  not  dealt  with  justly.  As  to  what  territory  should 
be  left  to  them,  that  is  a  question  for  statesmen.  Neither 
with  that  question  nor  with  what  I  consider  to  be  the  best 
solution  in  reference  to  the  occupation  of  Constantinople,  do 
I  deal  here.  My  suggestions  on  these  subjects  are  before  the 
public  and  hardly  come  within  my  reminiscences.  One 
point,  however,  I  urge  very  strongly.  The  Turk  should  be 
treated  with  justice  and  generosity.  He  has  failed  lament- 
ably as  a  ruler  of  subject  races.  Europe  should  show  him  a 
more  just,  humane,  and  generous  spirit. 


THE    END 


INDEX 


Abdul  Aziz,  Sultan  of  Turkey,  5, 
14,  27,  52-55,  102,  106,  143,  170, 
291,  292 

Abdul  Hamid,  Sultan  of  Turkey, 
23.  55-58.  77-87,  92,  95,  103-120, 
134,  138-143,  145,  148-150,  153, 
155-161,  165-176,  181,  184,  195, 
196,  201-203,  206-208,  213-215, 
218,  220-239,  241-248,  253,  257, 
259,  261-264,  268,  283-297,  301, 
302,  308,  318,  324,  331,  355, 
366,  372 

Abdul  Houda,  Court  Astrologer, 
234,  235,  241 

Abdul  Medjid,  Sultan  of  Turkey, 
55.  95.  289 

Abdul  Mejuel,  71.  74 

Adana,  298,  299 

Aden,  344 

Adrianople,  60,  213,  225,  230,  234, 
255.  278,  331-333.  339,  342.  348 

Aegean  Islands,  332 

Afghanistan,  134 

Agha  Khan,  351 

Ahmed  Riza  Bey,  224,  260,  266, 
272,  274 

Ahmed  Vefyk,  58,  60 

Aidin,  60,  348 

Akaba,  113 

Alabama  Case,  40 

Albania,  254-256,  307 

Alessio,  326 

Alexander  II.,  Czar  of  Russia,  5,  24, 
25,  27,  35 

Alexander  III.,  Czar  of  Russia,  193, 
326.  327.  333,  334.  340 

Alexandria,  2,  37,  88,  89,  121 

Algiers,  293 

Ali  Suavi,  108 

Alischan  (Dragoman),  49 

Alison,  Mr.  (Secretary  of  Embassy), 
46 

AUaverdi,  family  of,  177 

Ameer  Ali,  336 


American    sympathies    in    Russo- 

Turkish  war,  28,  29 
Anatolia,  251,  302 
Anna  Comnena,  240 
Antivari,  83,  93 
Arabi  Pasha,  87-89 
Argyll,  Duke  of,  16.  45 
Armenia,  60,  63,  76,  149-169,  201, 

226-229,  241,  344,  356,  366 
Armstrong,  Whitworth  &  Co.,  171, 

172 
Arnold,  Dr.  Thomas,  14 
Arnold,  Matthew,  3 
Astrologers,  112,  113 
Athens,  66,  69,  70,  199,  209,  275, 

342,  360 
Atkin,  Edward,  366 
Austria,  31,  33,  146,  223,  254,  255, 

322,  323,  327,  334,  341,  348,  374, 

375 
Ayasaluk,  147 
Ayton,  Mr.,  M.P.,  loi 

Baalbeck,  372 

Bagdad,  294,  369 

Bagdad  Railway,  112 

Baker,    Colonel    Valentine    (Baker 
Pasha),  32-34,  91-94,  126,  166 

Balata,  176 

Balkan  Wars  (1912  and  1913),  323- 
338 

Barclay,   Sir  George,   317 

Baring,  Walter,  20,  27,  60 

Barker,  Mr.,  of  the  Bible  Society 
(Bible  Barker),  9- 11 

Barrere,  M.,  36 

Bartlett,  E.,  Ashmead,  335 

Batak,  19,  161 

Bath,  Marquis  of,  45 

Batoum,  no,  269,  371 

Beaumont,    Mr.    (Embassy    Coun- 
sellor), 334,  335.  347 

Bebek,  15 

Bedri  Bey,  357,  358,  365 
381 


382 


INDEX 


Begler  Bay,  Palace  of,  103 

Belgrade,  136 

Bell,  Miss  Gertrude  Lothian,  370 

Bennett,  Gordon,  158,  159 

Bent,  Theodore,  70 

B6rard,  Victor,  200 

Berlin,  81,  83,  148,  149,  152,  194, 

201,  342 
Beshisktash,  269,  288 
Besika  Bay,  14,  27,  66 
Beyrout,  72,  304,  319 
Birajek,  160 

Bismarck,  Prince,  31,  81,  82 
Bistani    Efiendi,    303,    304,    341, 

348 

Blackwood's  Magazine,  225,  260, 
280,  281 

Bliss,  Mr.  and  Mrs.,  373 

Block,  Lady,  336 

Block,  Sir  Adam,  346,  347 

Blunt,  General,  166 

Boghazkewi,  369 

Bokhara.  126 

Bosnia,  14,  31,  322,  323 

Breslau.  341-343.  349.  352 

Brett,  Mr.  Justice,  2 

Briennios  (Bishop  of  Ismidt),  371 

Brougham,  Lord,  3 

Brown,  Rev.  Mr.,  186-188 

Brusa,  105,  208 

Brussels,  126,  127 

Bucharest.  15,  46,  136,  333,  339 

Buda-Pesth,  127-130,  272 

Bulgaria,  13-24,  27,  29,  38,  39,  45, 
52.  57.  59-61,  81-83,  107,  no, 
151,  161,  189,  191-201,  221,  323, 
325-329.  331-334.  339.  340.  342. 
355.  356.  360,  366 

Bulwer,  Sir  Henry,  124,  125 

Burgas.  194 

Burgess,  Miss,  163,  164,  336 

Bumabashi,  65 

Bury,  Professor  J.  B.,  366,  371 

Butt,  Sir  Charles  P.,  2,  3 

Buxton,  Noel,  308 

Byron,  Lord,  94,  151 

Cairo,  88-90 

Calcutta,  186,  188 

Calice,  Baron,  118,  146 

Calneh,  368 

Calvert,  Mr.,  65,  66 

Cambridge,  277 

Canning,    Lady,    see   Stratford   de 

Redclifife,  Lady 
Canning,  Stratford,  see  Stratford  de 

RedcUfie.  Lord 


Canrobert,  General,  48 
Carasso,  Mr.,  56,  258,  285.  286 
Caratheodori,  Alexander  Pasha,  79, 

82 
Carchemish,  369 
Carnarvon,  Lord,  3 
Carpenter,  Miss  Mary,  3 
Cassel,  Sir  Ernest,  305 
Cavalla,  148,  334,  340,  350 
Ceylon,  89 
Chambers,  Dr.,  298 
Chanak,  352 
Charters,  Miss,  96,  365 
Chatalja,  327,  328,  342 
Cheragan,    Palace    of,     102,     170, 

287 
Chevalier,  M.,  37 
Chichly,  363,  365 
Chios,  62,  65,  167,  290,  350,  372 
Choate,  J.  H.,  371,  372 
Cilicia,  60,  298,  299,  302,  309 
Clark,  Sir  Campbell,  36 
Clemow,  Dr.,  279 
Collins,  Bishop,  371 
Cologne,  125 
Committee  of  Union  and  Progress, 

203,  204,  223-225,  228-230,  235, 

241,  242,  244-246,  251,  253-255, 

258-261,  266-276,  284,  292,  293, 

297-321.  325 
Constanza,  340,  343 
Contemporary    Review,     308,     309, 

321.  331,  351 
Corruption  of  Turkish  Government, 

5 
Corti,  Count,  40 
Cox,  Mr.  Sunset,  135,  136 
Cramps,  Messrs.,  171,  172 
Crawford,  Sir  Richard,  320 
Crawshay,  George,  6-8 
Crete.  332.  347,  352 
Crimea,  8,  9,  32 
Critobolus,  128,  130 
Crofton,  Sir  Walter.  3 
Cumaroflf,  Colonel,  84,  85 
Currie,  Lady,  174,  1 79-181.  183 
Currie,  Sir  Philip  W.,  149,  153,  154, 

165,  166,  173,  174,  178,  180,  181, 

183,  189,  219,  235,  346 
Curtis,  Canon,  179 
Cyprus,  372 
Cyzicus,  209 

Daily  News,  The,  12,  16-18,  20,  21. 

24,  58,  107,  116,  117,  127,  142, 

158,  181,  366 
Daily  Telegraph,  The,  20,  36,  157 


INDEX 


383 


Damascus,  71,  72,  74,  113,  178 
Damat  Ferid  Pasha,  309,  337 
Dardanelles,  The,   5,  27,  66,   171, 

342,  350,  375 
D6d6agatch,  334,  350,  359,  363 
Derby,  Lord,  3 

Denvent,  34,  igg 

Dethier,  Dr.,  128,  129 

Devonshire,  Duke  of,  332 

Dickson,  Dr.,  54,  55,  106 

Digby,  Honourable  Mrs.,  71-74 

DilbCT  Efiendi,  355 

Disraeli,  B.,  afterwards  Lord  Bea- 

consfield,  14, 16, 17,  20,  22,  75,  76, 

81 
Dodd,  Miss,  71 

Dogs  of  Constantinople,  310-312 
Dolma  Bagshe,  Palace  of,  102,  103, 

170,  288 
Dorpfeld,  Dr.,  66 

Dufierin.  Lady,  91,  94,  97,  98,  335 
Dufiferin,  Lord.  87,  88,  90-95,  97-99, 

108,  134,  138,  330 
Dufferin,  Lord,  Letters  from  High 

Latitudes,  98 
Dulcigno,  83 
Durazzo,  326 

Easter  cakes,  68,  69 

Easter    celebration    in    the    Holy 

Orthodox  Church,  63,  64,  67 
Eastern  Express,  115 
Eastern  RoumeUa,  81,  254 
Edhem  Pasha,  68 
Edward  VII.,  3,  69,  104,  126,  238, 

367 

Egerton,  Sir  Edwin,  70 

Egypt,  77-80,  87-94,  108-115,  132, 
213-215,  226,  320,  348.  351,  360, 
362 

Egypt,  Khedive  of,  see  Ismail, 
and  Tewfik 

El  Arish,  113 

Ellenborough,  Lord,  71 

Elliot,  Sir  Francis,  360 

Elliot,  Sir  Henry,  16,  20,  21,  23, 
43-45.  57.  60,  61,  75,  106-108, 
152,  292,  360 

England,  28,  30,  31,  33,  35,  40,  52, 
53,  56,  60,  61,  78-81,  83,  84,  88-94, 
105,  107-110,  114,  132,  155,  161, 
167,  191,  195,  198,  213-215,  219, 
223.  235.  239-241,  244,  254,  299, 
303-306,  324,  329,  330,  336,  341, 

343.  345.  347-351,  353 
English  Historical  Review,  179 
Enos,  331,  332,  340 


Enver  Pasha,  229,  230,  282,  300, 
331.  332,  339,  341.  342.  348,  353. 
355-357.  365 

Ephesus,  69,  370 

Erzeroum,  212,  227,  347 

Erzinghian,  268 

Essad  Pasha,  56,  285,  286 

Euxine,  The,  34 

Evans,  Sir  Arthur,  177 

Eversley,  Lord,  366,  371 

Eyres,  Mr.  (Consul -General),  280 

Eyub  (Standard  Bearer  to  the 
Prophet),  175 

Fane,  Sir  E.,  149 
Fehim  Efiendi,  206-208 
Ferdinand  I.,  Czar  of  Bulgaria,  189, 

191,  192,  323,  333 
Ferid  Pasha,    112,   230,   231,   235, 

256,  302,  316,  336 
Fersovitch,  254,  255 
Fetva  Emin6,  The,  232,  233 
Field,  Edwin,  98-100 
Fitzmaurice,  Lord  Edmund,  28 
Fitzmaurice,  G.,  138,  160,  161,  263, 

344-346 
Fiorina,  200 
Ford,  Sir  F.  C.  148 
Forster,  W.  E.,  16,  45,  46,  217 
Foster,  Morgan,  44,  53,  96,  125 
France,  53,  58,  78-80,  88-94,  io9. 
no,  161,  167-169,  171,  195,  198, 
202,  214,  223,  303,  341,  347,  352, 

353 
Frauds,  Sir  Philip,  50,  51 
Frankfurter  Zeitung,  37 
Frew,  Rev.  Robert,   164,  335,  337, 

364.  372 
Fry,  Miss  Isabel,  320 
Fuller,  Sir  Bampfylde,  302 

Gabriel  Efiendi  Nouradunghian, 
244 

Galata,  47,  50,  142,  162,  163,  202, 
236,  252,  260,  264,  266,  276,  288, 
341,  358,  363 

Galenga,  Mr.,  Times  Correspon- 
dent, 16,  21,  36,  37,  44 

Galib  Bey,  255,  286 

Gamble,  Admiral,   173,   324 

Gardiner,  Miss  Alice,  277,  278, 
280 

Gardner,  A.  G.,  366 

Garstang,  John,  369 

Gates,  Dr.,  13 

Gaulis,  M.,  200 

Geneva^  201 


384 


INDEX 


Genoa,  171,  172 
George  V.,  373 

Germany,  m,  112,  137,  169,  223, 
261.  324,  340-345,  348-356,  361, 

364.  374 
Ghazi  Muktar,  215 
Gibbon,  E.,  128 
Gibraltar,  371 
Gibseh,  212,  213 
Girls'  English  High  School,  94-96, 

148,  180,  282,  365 
Gladstone,  W.  E.,  3,  13,  18-21,  45, 

61,    76,  77,  84,  go,  92,  99,  108, 

109,  151,  214 
Gladstone,  W.  E.,  Bulgarian  Horrors 

and  the  Questions  of  the  East,  20 
GljTi,  Lady  Mary,  370 
Goeben,  341-343.  348.  349,  352 
Golem,  326 

Goltz,  von  der.  Pasha,  247 
Goschen,  George  J.,  81-87,  93.  138, 

139,  201 
Gourko,  General,  25,  26,  29,  32 
Graves,  Robert  W.,  346 
Greece,  82,  83,  171,  194-197,  327- 

329.  332-334.  339.  348.  350 
Greene,  Miss,  96 
Gregory  the  lUuininator,  149 
Grey,  Sir  Edward,  304,  364 
Griscom,  Mr.,  172 
GueschoflE,  Mr.,  13,  14,  333 

Haag,  Karl,  71,  72 

Habib  Melhame,  242 

Hadji  Adil  Bey,  325 

Haji  Ali,  141,  142 

Hakki  Pasha,  230,  306,  307,  309, 

355 
Halim  Pasha,  78-80,  146 
Hallil  Bey,  347 
Halim,  Prince,  355 
Hamdi  Bey,  66,  68,  176,  212,  320 
Hanley,  Baron,  192 
Harrison,  Frederic,  3,  366,  371 
Heisluck,  Mr.,  209 
Hassan  Fehmi,  274,  275 
Hasskewi,  44,  45,  49,  50 
Hedjaz  Railway,  113 
Hepworth,  Mr.,  of  New  York  Herald, 

159 
Hepworth,    Through    Armenia    on 

Horseback,  159,   160 
Heraclia,  210,  211 
Herbert,   Michael,   afterwards   Sir, 

165 
Herzegovina,  14,  31,  322,  323 
Hicks  Pasha,  94 


Hierapolis,  69,  372 

Hill,  Frank,  12 

Hill,  Frederic,  2,  3 

Hill,  Matthew  Davenport,  2 

Hill,  Sir  Rowland,  2 

Hilmi  Pasha,  196,  235,  268,  307 

Hilprecht,  Professor,  369 

Hissarlik,  62,  65,  66 

Hobart  Pasha,  85,  148 

Hogarth,  Mr.,  177,  369 

Hornby,  Admiral,  29,  30 

Hughes,  Mr.  (Secretary  of  Em- 
bassy), 46 

Hughes,  Rev.  Dr.,  Dictionary  of 
Islam,  293,  294 

Hughes,  Thomas,  28 

Humann,  369 

Hunter,  Professor  W.  A.,  17 

Hyacinthe,  Pere,  121,  122 

IcoNiUM,  175 

Ignatiev,  General,  22,  28,  57,  145 

Illustrated  London  News,  36,  37 

Irene,  Empress,  70 

Ismail,  Khedive  of  Egypt,    77-80, 

87,  124,  125,  146,  214,  215,  291 
Ismail    Pasha    (head    of    Artillery 

Department),  241 
Ismailia,  89 
Ismidt,  85,  168 
Italy,    no,    171,    172,    323,     324, 

326,  332 
Izzedin,  352 
Izzet  Pasha,  111-113,  241 

Jahid,  266 

Javad  Bey,  304-307 

Jemal  Bey,  341,  247,  353 

Jemal-eddin,   see    Sheik-ul-Islam 

Jerusalem,  58 

Jevad  Bey,  258 

Joachim,  Patriarch,  150,  371 

Jonescu,  Take,  330 

Joseph,   Monsignor,    198 

Kadikewi,  123,  162,  362 

K!aula,  Baron,  322 

Khiva,  126 

Kiamil  Pasha,  235,  244,  263,  268, 

269,  272,  307,  331,  332 
Kinglake,  A.  W.,  Eothen,  197 
Kingsley,  Rev.  Charles,  3 
Kirk  Kiliss6,  327 
Kitchener,  Lord,  330,  370 
Knight,  Professor  W.  A.,  319 
Konia,  112,  175,  231,  372 
Kossova,  254,  255 


INDEX 


385 


Kotchana,  325 

Kum  Kali,  66 

Kum  Kapou,  186,  251 

Kumanova,  326 

Kustenji,  see  Constanza 

Kutchuk  Said,  see  Said  Pasha 

Labouchere,  H.  D.,  17,  46,  306 
Lamb,      Mr.     (Consul -General     at 

Salonica),  346 
Lambert,  Rev.  Brooke,  371 
Lancet,  The,  55 
Laodacia,  69,  372 
Law  Courts,  Building  of,  99-101 
Law  Magazine,  i,  50,  51,  loi 
Layard,  Lady,  80 
Layard,  Mr.,  afterwards  Sir  Henry, 

6,  21,  45,  75-77,  80,  81,  88,  96, 

105,  108,  114,  152,  166 
Leishman,     Mr.     (American     Am- 
bassador), 302 
Levant  Company,  The,  240 
Levant  Herald,  115,  351 
Liman  von  Sandars,  General,  348 
Limpus,    Admiral,    173,    325,    352, 

360,  361 
Liverpool,  176 
London,  79,  84,  99-101,   126,  142, 

147,  176,  328,  329,  332,  344,  361, 

366 
Long,  Dr.  Albert,  13,  15-17,  59,  70, 

94.  192 
Loti,  Pierre,  Les  Disinchanties,  320 
Lowell,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  James  Russell, 

371 
Lowther,  Lady,  265,  336,  338 
Lowther,  Sir  Gerard  A.,  238,  241, 

265,  302,  309 
Lucerne,  80 
Lyons,  Lord,  125 

Macedonia,  194-196,  198-201,  223, 
225-232,  239,  241.  251,  254-256, 
308.  319.  322,  326,  327,  331,  334, 
339 

Macgahan,  J.  A.,  18-20,  24 

Macgahan,  J.  A.,  Northern  Lights, 
24 

McLean,  Dr.,  277 

Macpherson,  General,  92 

Macrikewi,  163 

Madrid,  21,  45,  75 

Mahdi,  The,  see  Mahomet  Achmed 

Mahmud,  88 

Mahmud  Damat,  202 

Mahmud  Mukhtar,  260-264,  266, 
275 


Mahomet  II.,  128,  129,  175,  293 
Mahomet  V.,  Sultan  of  Turkey,  56, 

105.  175.  287-289,  291,  302,  307, 

331 
Mahomet  Achmed  (the  Madi),  93, 

no 
Malet,  Sir  Edward,  122 
Mallet,  Sir  Louis,  333,  344-347.  349 
Malta,  31,  173,  325,  360,  361 
Manning,   Rev.   H.  E.,  afterwards 

Cardinal,  3 
Marschall  von  Bieberstein,  Baron, 

169,  205-208,  216,  217,  305,  329, 

330 

Marschall  von  Bieberstein,  Baron- 
ess, 329 

Marseilles,  202,  361 

Marsovan,  340 

Maurice,  Rev.  F.  D.,  3 

Maynard,  Mr.  (American  Minister), 
60 

Mecca,  in,  293 

Media,  331,  332,  340 

Medina,  in 

Mehmet  Ali,  Khedive  of  Egypt,  78 

Midhat  Pasha,  14,  55-57,  103,  107, 
223,  235,  237,  243,  291,  292 

Military  League,  The,  325 

Mill,  John  Stuart,  3 

Mirsky,  Prince,  26 

Missionaries,  9-1 1,  28,  85,  150,  151, 
154,  163,  164.  186,  193,  194 

Mitylene,  250 

Mizzi,  Dr.  L.  F.,  367 

Moda,  261-264 

Monastir,  200,  229,  230,  233,  234, 
325,  326 

Montenegro,  57,  82,  83,  326 

Moore,  Mr.,  278 

Morgenthau,  Mr.,  American  Am- 
bassador, 133,  341,  356-359.  361- 
365 

Morgenthau,  Mrs.,  359,  361-365 

Morley,  Lord,  330 

Morocco,  293 

Mukhtar  Pasha,  Ghazi,  25,  no, 
261,  325,  329,  332 

Muller,  Karl,  128 

Munir  Pasha,  79 

Munich,  205 

Murad  I.,   308 

Murad  V.,  Sultan  of  Turkey,  14,  55, 
56,  103,  105,  170,  286 

Mustafa  Fazil  Pa.sha,  146 


Nadir  Agha,  302 
Napoleon  III.,  58 


CC 


386 


INDEX 


Nazim  Bey,  229,  230 

Nazim.  Dr.,  203 

Nazim  Pasha,  261,  263,  268,  269, 

331.  332 
Neochorion,   66 
Neue  Freie  Presse,  232 
Newspaper  Gjrrespondents,  12,  16- 

21,  36-39 
Newspapers  in  Turkey,   115  119 
New  York,  368 
New    York   Herald,    The,   24,    158, 

159 
Niazi  Bey,  229,  230 
Nicaea,  63,  66,  67,  69-71 
Nicomedia,  168 
Nicopolis,  25 

Nightingale,  M  ss  Florence,  3,  280 
Nineteenth  Century,  107 
Nineveh,  75,  152 
Nippur,  368 

Northcote,  Lady  Rosalind,  298 
Northcote,  Sir  Stafford,  3 
Norton,  Mrs.,  212 

OCHRIDA,  229,  326 

O'Conor,  Lady,  164,  1 89-1 91,  215, 
216 

O'Conor,  Sir  Nicholas,  114,  124,  164, 
189-191,  195,  199,  202,  207-213, 
215-217,  235,  315-317.  319 

Odessa,  15,  64,  97,  353 

O'Donovan,  Mr.,  Daily  News  Cor- 
respondent, 127 

Oscan  Effendi,  341,  348 

Osman  Pasha,  25,  230 

Osmanische  Lloyd,  The,  351 

Ortakewi,  311 

Ouchy,  323 

Ovey,    Mr.     (Embcissy    Secretary), 

345 
Oxford,  177 
Oxyaea,  312 

Palatium,  176 

Palestine,  370 

Pall  Mall  Gazette,  36 

Palmerston,  Lord,  125,  152 

Pancaldi,  281 

Paris,  79,  80,  155,  176,  201-203, 
205,  223-225,  254,  305 

Paspates,  Dr.,  62,  64,  368 

Passitch,  Mr.,  14,  333 

Patmos,  372 

Patterson,  Dr.,  94 

Pears,  Sir  Edwin,  Secretary  of  the 
Social  Science  Association  and  of 
the    International    Prison    Con- 


gress ;  edits  their  Transactions ; 
editor  of  the  Law  Magazine  ; 
writes  for  the  School  Board  Chron- 
icle ;  member  of  the  North 
Eastern  Circuit,  i  ;  hears  of  a 
post  in  Constantinople,  2  ;  ob- 
tains leave  of  absence,  and  pro- 
ceeds to  Constantinople,  3 ; 
resigns  his  post  with  the  Social 
Service  Association  ;  his  arrival 
at  Constantinople,  4  ;  he  dis- 
covers the  corruption  of  Turkish 
government,  5  ;  his  first  letters 
to  the  Daily  News,  12  ;  he  makes 
the  acquaintance  of  Drs.  Wash- 
bum  and  Long,  13  ;  more  letters 
to  Daily  News,  16-19 ;  Mr. 
Gladstone's  tribute  to  him,  20  ; 
his  friendship  with  Macgahan, 
24  ;  on  a  visit  to  England,  30 ; 
confesses  to  misunderstanding 
the  reason  that  Russia  did  not 
occupy  Constantinople,  30,  31  ; 
his  conversations  with  Skobeleff, 
33-35  ."  his  reminiscences  of 
G.  A.  Sala,  36  ;  a  prize  case  in 
which  he  was  engaged,  39-42 ; 
his  lecture  at  the  Hasskewi 
Institute,  49-51  ;  denounced  by 
many  as  an  enemy  of  Turkey, 
59  ;  studies  Turkish  history,  60  ; 
present  at  Easter  Celebration  in 
the  church,  63,  64  ;  visits  to 
Hissarlik,  66,  and  Nicaea,  famous 
picture,  66,  71  ;  attends  the 
Easter  ce  ebrations  there,  67 ; 
meets  the  Hon.  Mrs.  Digby,  72- 
74  ;  meets  Sir  Henry  Layard  at 
Lucerne,  80  ;  Lady  Layard  sends 
him  Sir  Henry's  copy  of  Vassari, 
81  ;  his  interest  in  the  English 
High  School  for  Girls,  94-97 ; 
the  Dufferins  centre  of  social  life 
in  Pera ;  amateur  theatricals  at 
British  Embassy,  97,  98 ;  the 
story  of  Edwin  Field,  99-101  ; 
letters  opened  by  the  Turkish 
postal  authorities,  107 ;  ex- 
poses abuses  in  the  Daily  News, 
116  ;  threatened  by  censor,  117  ; 
meetings  with  Arminius  Vam- 
bery,  124-130  ;  his  work  on  The 
Destruction  of  the  Greek  Empire, 
128  ;  he  obtains  a  copy  of  Dr. 
Dethier's  translation  of  Crito- 
bolus's  Life  of  Mahomet,  128- 
130 ;    a  sists  in  rescuing  a  girl 


INDEX 


387 


Pears,  Sir  Edwin,  continued — 
from  being  sold  by  her  father, 
130,  131  ;  speaks  at  the  "  Com- 
mencement Day  "  at  Robert  Col- 
lege, 135,  136  ;  Dr.  Wa.shburn's 
friendship  with  Sir  William  White, 
136  ;  is  called  to  the  palace  by 
Abdul  Hamid,  137,  whooffershim 
a  decoration,  139,  140,  which  he 
refuses,  140-143  ;  his  remarks  on 
Turkish  tobacco,  145-148  ;  his 
visit  to  an  Armenian  Church, 
151  ;  he  publishes  particulars  of 
the  Armenian  outrages,  158  ;  his 
last  meeting  with  Said  Pasha, 
175,  176  ;  his  portrait  by  Hamdi 
Bey,  1 76 ;  he  meets  Bishop 
Wordsworth,  178,  179;  he  is 
invited  to  dine  with  a  spy,  181- 
183  ;  refuses  to  defend  a  lady 
spy,  185,  186;  present  at  Whit- 
Sunday  service  at  Armenian 
Cathedral  at  Kum  Kapou,  186- 
188  ;  at  Sofia  meets  Stambuloff, 
1 89- 1 91  ;  and  again  at  Philip- 
popolis,  192-194  ;  meets  Baron 
Marschall  von  Bieberstein  and 
travels  two  days  with  him,  205, 
206;  institutes  proceedings  against 
Fehim  Effendi,  206-208  ;  trips 
with  Sir  Nicholas  O'Conor  on  the 
Imogen,  208-213  ;  his  experience 
of  Turkish  procrastination,  219, 
220  ;  what  he  saw  of  the  demon- 
strations in  the  1908  Revolution, 
237,  238  ;  he  has  an  interview 
with  the  Sheik-ul-Islam,  249, 
250 ;  his  experiences  in  the 
Counter  Revolution  of  1909,  265  ; 
he  sees  the  ceremony  of  accession 
of  Mahomet  V.,  287,  288  ;  his 
impressions  of  Mahomet  V.,  289, 
his  opinions  on  Moslem  fanati- 
cism, 292-295  ;  sees  some  men 
who  had  been  hanged,  303  ;  his 
articles  in  The  Contemporary 
Review,  308,  309,  321  ;  archae- 
ological discoveries  in  burnt 
parts  of  Constantinople,  314 ;  what 
he  was  told  by  Sir  Robert  Rawlin- 
son  of  the  old  drainage  of  the 
Seljmieh  barracks,  314  ;  how  he 
was  able  to  prevent  an  unjust  fire 
insurance  law  being  passed,  315- 
317;  with  Professor  Knight  at 
Constantinople,  319 ;  a  conver- 
sation with  BaroQ  Marschall  von 


Bieberstein,  329,  330  ;  delivers 
an  address  to  the  Eastern  Ques- 
tions Association,  330 ;  his  ar- 
ticle in  The  Contemporary  Review, 
331  ;  his  activities  in  connection 
w-ith  the  relief  of  the  victims  of 
the  Balkan  wars,  335-338  ;  he 
delivers  the  "  Commencement 
Address  "  at  the  American  Col- 
lege, 340,  341  ;  his  opinions  on 
the  barrier  between  the  Consular 
and  Diplomatic  Services,  345, 
346  ;  another  contribution  to  The 
Contemporary  Review,  351,  352  ; 
decides  if  possible  to  stay  in  Con- 
stantinople during  the  war,  354  ; 
the  friendly  attitude  of  the  Turks 
towards  him,  355  ;  his  expulsion 
urged  by  Baron  von  Wangenheim, 
355  ;  he  is  arrested  and  taken  to 
the  prison  for  non-Turkish  sub- 
jects, 356  ;  the  American  Am- 
bassador is  informed  of  his  im- 
prisonment and  demands  his 
release,  357  ;  he  is  released,  358  ; 
he  leaves  Lady  Pears  in  the  care 
of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Morgenthau  and 
goes  by  rail  across  the  Bulgarian 
frontier  and  to  Dddeagatch, 
359,  and  thence  by  a  French 
steamer  arrives  at  Malta  and 
calls  on  Admiral  Limpus,  360  ; 
proceeds  via  Marseilles  to  Lon- 
don, 361  ;  a  lunch  is  given  in  his 
honour  by  Daily  News  on  the 
occasion  of  his  being  knighted, 
366 ;  elected  President  of  the 
Prinkipo  Yachting  Club,  367  ;  a 
dinner  given  by  the  Turkish  and 
European  Bars,  367 ;  distin- 
guished men  whom  he  met  during 
his  residence  in  Constantinople, 
368-373  ;  considerations  to  be 
noted  as  to  the  future  of  Turkey  ^ 
374-379 

Pears,  Sir  Edwin,  The  Destruction  of 
the  Greek  Empire,  355 

Pears,  Sir  Edwin,  The  Fall  of  Con- 
stantinople, being  the  Story  of  the 
Fourth  Crusade,  65 

Pears,  Sir  Edwin,  Turkey  and  its 
People,  19,  160,  258,  298 

Pearson,  George  C,  66,  68 

Peet,  Mr.,  299 

Pender,  Sir  John,   125 

Pera,  4,  24,  84,  95,  96,  114,  142 
148,  162,  173,  180,  184,  206,  208. 


388 


INDEX 


Pera,  continued — 

236-238,  241,  262,  276-278,  281, 

288.  313,  354,  358,  367 
Pergamum,   369,   372 
Peterborough,   Bishop  of,  370 
Peters,  Rev.  John,  368 
Philadelphia,  369 
Philippopolis,  32,  60,  82,  192 
Phillips,  Hoffman,  335 
Plevna,  25,  26,  32,  105 
Porter,  Sir  James,  240 
Poynter,  Mrs.  Hugh,  71 
Prinkipo,  24,  27,  29,  33,  45,  46,  91, 

136,  199,  209,  234,  241,  272.  355, 

367 
Prior,  Melton,  36,  37 
Prishtina,  326 

Prison  Congress,  International,  i,  3 
Prisons  and  Reformatories  at  Home 

and  Abroad,  i 
Prot6,  264 

Rafia,  113 

Raghib,  112 

Ramsay,    Sir    William,    157,    177, 

369.  370 
Rawlinson,  Sir  Robert,  8,  314 
R6gie  Ottomane  de  Tabac,  145-148 
Reshad,  Effendi,  see  Mahomet  V. 
Reval,  253,  254 
Revue  Diplomatique,  La,  35 
Rifaat  Pasha,  268 
Riza  Tewfik,  303,  304,  308 
Robert  College,  13,  14,  59,  94,  95, 

135.  192.  194.  340.  356 
Robinson,  Dean  Armitage,  370 
Robinson,  Sir  John,  17,  18,  107 
Roe,  Sir  Thomas,  112,  113 
Rosasco,  Mattre,  367 
Rumania,  15,   no,   130,   136,  333, 

334.  339.  340.  349.  376 
Ruskin,  John,  151 
Russia,  18,  21,  22,  24,  31,  33,  35,  60, 

61,  63,  105,  109,  132,  137,  155. 

157,  158,  193,  198,  261,  300,  322, 

327.  348,  349.  352,  374.  376,  377 
Russia,     British    colony's     feeling 

against,  43-45,  59.  75 
Russia,  Czar  of,  see  Alexander  II. 

and  Alexander  III. 
Russian  uniforms  contrasted  with 

English,  30 
Russo-Turkish  war,  24-42,  295,  332 
Rycaut,  Paul,  240 

Saba-eddin,  see  Sheik-ul -Islam 
Sadyk,  Colonel,  307 


Sahib  Mollah,  see  Sheik-ul-Islam 
Said  Halim,  Prince,  80,  306,  333, 

341,  347,  348,  352,  353,  355 
Said  Pasha   (Kutchuk  Said),    173- 

176.  235,  242-244,  325 
St.  Petersburg,  87 
Sakje-Guje,   369 
Sala,  George  A.,  36,  37 
Salisbury,  Marquis  of,  22,  23,  36, 

43.  57.  81,  109,  no,  149,  155,  214, 

223 
Salonica,  14,  58,  203,  223,  225,  229, 

230,  232-235,  249,  255,  258,  259. 

264,  275,  276,  280,  298,  307,  308, 

319.  328,  334.  346.  350 
Samarcand,    126 
Samsoun,   340 
San  Stefano,  24,  27,  29,  31,  34,  81, 

200.  275,  27C,  283,  311,  312,  327, 

335 
Sandford,  Bishop,  123 
Sandison,  Sir  Alfred,   137-139,   142 
Sayce,  Professor,  369 
Schliemann,  Dr.,  62,  65,  66,  368 
Schneider,  Carl,  37 
School  Board  Chronicle,  1 
Schuyler,  Mr.,  17-20,  27,  60,  189 
Scoloudi,  Mr.,  332 
Scott,  Lady,  2 
Scott,  Sir  John,  2 
Scrkeji,  283,  288 
Scudamore,  F.  I.,  23 
Scutari,  48,  71,  216,  263,  278,  280 

300,  307,  321,  332 
Sebesti,  The,  274 
Selim  I.,  Sultan  of  Turkey,  293 
Serbia,   14,  57,   136,  201,  326-328, 

339-341 
Seymour,  Admiral,  89 
Sheik-ul-lslam,      The,     237,     243, 

244,  249,  250,  273,  285,  290-292, 

348 
Shemsi  Pasha,  229-231 
Shenova,  26,  27,  32 
Shevket  Pasha,  256,  264,  275,  276, 

282,  283,  291,  300,  307,  325,  332, 

333.  342 
Shipka  Pass,  25,  26,  32 
Shishli,  281 

Shoobridge,  Canon  and  Mrs.,  371 
Silistria,  334,  340 
Skene,  Mrs.,  369 
Skobeleff,  General,  24,  26,  27,  32- 

35.  199 
Slivnitza,  213 
"  Smith,  Captain,"  37-39 
Smith,  Dr.  George,  369 


INDEX 


389 


Smyrna,  62,  84,  93,  167,  203,  212, 
232.  233,  235,  248,  290,  319,  366, 
369 

Social  Science  Association,  i,  3,  4, 

99 
Sofia,  26,  32,  46,  189-194,  333 
Spooner,  Dr.,  371 
Stambul,   47,   128,   142,    162,   163, 

173.  175.  186,  236,  251,  259,  260, 

265,  266,  270,  276,  277,  281,  283, 

288.  313,  315,  337,  348,  356,  357, 

372 
Stambuloff,  S.  N.,  13,,  189-194 
Standard,  The,  181-183 
Stanhope,  Lady  Hester,  74 
Stanley,  E.  P.  (Dean),  69,  70,  121 
Stavrides,  Mr.  (Dragoman  at  British 

Embassy),  47,  48 
Stoilofif,  Mr.,  13,  191 
Stone,  Sir  Benjamin,  70 
Strangford,  Lady,  23,  131 
Stratford  de  Redcliffe,  Lady,  95,  96 
Stratford  de  Redcliffe,  Lord,  46,  47, 

52,  124,  152 
Street,  G.  E.,  loi 
Suchon,  Admiral,  342,  348,  352 
Suez,  89 

Suliman  Pasha,  32,  33 
Surtees,  Colonel,  336,  337 
Switzerland,   189 
Syria,  132,  341,  343,  370 

Tabah,  III,  113,  114,  213,  215 

Tachsin  Bey,  iii,  112,  241 

Tahir  Bey,  286 

Tait,  Archbishop,  121 

Talaat  Bey,  299,  304,  340,  341,  347, 

353.  355.  357 
Tanin,  The,  267 
Tarler,     Mr.,     Secretary     at     the 

American  Embassy,  362 
Tartar  Bazar jik,  19 
Taxim,  278 
Tel-el-Kebir,  89 
Temps,  Le,  37 
Tewfik  Bey,  66 
Tewfik,  Khedive  of  Egypt,  78,  87- 

90,  122,  215 
Tewfik  Pasha,  244,  266,  296 
Therapia,  93,  210,  238 
Thornton,   Sir  Edward,   134-136 
Thrace.  60,    311,    327,    335,    337, 

348 
Times,  The,  16,  20,  27,  28,  36,  44, 

126,  330 
Timovo,  193 
Tokar,  94 


Tripoli,  323,  324 

Troy,  62,  65 

Truth,  17 

Tunis,  no,  293 

Turkey,  Sultan  of,  see  Abdul  Aziz, 
Murad  V.,  Abdul  Hamid,  Abdul 
Medjid,  and  Mahomet  V. 

Turkish  feeling  against  Christians, 
46-49 

Turkish  Finance,  52,  53 

Uniforms,  Military,  30 

United  States,  135,  136,  161,  171, 

172,  299,  336 
Urfa,  161,  344 

Urquhart,  Mr.,  Philo-Turk,  6,  75 
Uskub,  254,  255,  326 

Vambery,  Arminius,    108,   124-130 
Van  Millingen,  Dr.  Alexander,  94, 

179.  356,  370 
Venezelos,  M.,  350 
Venice,  81,  151 
Verestchagin,  V.,  30 
Vessel  Pasha,  26 
Victoria,  Queen,  181,  216,  219 
Vienna,  21,  33,  43,  75,  129.  15°.  323 
Villehardouin,  Marshal,  240 
Vinicombe  Pasha,  Colonel,  337 

Wales,  Prince  of,  see  Edward  VII. 
Wallace,     Sir    Donald    Mackenzie, 

330 
Walsh,    Dr.,    Two    Years   in    Con- 
stantinople,  64,   290 
Wangenheim,  Baron  von,  342,  344, 

352,  355 
Waring  Guard,  The,  179,  240 
Washburn,  Dr.  George,  13,  14,  16, 

17,  21,  58,  59,  94,  137,  159 
Washington,  U.S.A.,  134 
Washington,  Rev.  George,  94 
Watson,  Sir  Charles,  370 
Wellesley,  Lord  Gerald,  345 
White,  Dr.,  341 
White,   Sir  William,    30,   31,    107, 

136-139,     144,     145.     148.     149. 

346 
White  Slave  Traffic,  130-132,  254 
Whitehouse,  Canon,  123 
Whittaker,    Mr.,    editor  of  Levant 

Herald,  115 
Whittall,  Sir  William,  261,  262 
Wigram,  Rev.  Dr.,  364 
Wilhelm    II.,    216,   244,    245,   330, 

351 
Williams,  Admiral,  173,  324 


390 


INDEX 


Wilson,  Sir  Charles,  370 

Wolff,  Sir  H.  Drummond,  108-110, 

144,  214 
Wolseley,  Sir  Garnet,  8g,  92,  93 
Wood,   Mr.    (English  merchant  at 

Smyrna),  62,  63 
Woods,  Charles  H.,  298 
Wordsworth,     Bishop,     178,     179, 

370 
Wylie,  Colonel  Doughty,  298 
Wynckler,  Otto,  369 


Yanina,  332 
Yemen,  306 
Yildiz,  139-143,  222,  224,  228-230, 

232-234,  236,  237,  247,  255,  256, 

261,  266,  276,  278-281,  284-287, 

301,  302 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association 

in  Constantinople,  364 
Yumur  Talik,  67 

ZoHRAB,  Mr.,  299 


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Westminster  Gazette. — "A  book  that  is  sure  to  interest  a 
multitude  of  readers." 

Daily  News. — "What  a  refreshing  and  interesting  volume 
'  B.-P.  '  has  given  to  readers  in  need  of  being  cheered  up." 

Standard. — "An  entirely  delightful  collection  of  reminiscences 
.    .    .    we  advise  our  readers  to  get  it,  read  it,  and  enjoy  it." 

St.  James's  Gazette. — "  Take  up  this  book  when  you  are  feel- 
ing slack  and  dull.     Its  matter-of-fact  briskness  will  infect  you." 

Pall  Mall  Gazette. — "In  these  entertaining  reminiscences 
there  are  ghmpses  of  mystery  and  romance,  which  flee  like  the 
rainbow  when  we  attempt  to  extract  them." 

Times. — "Sir  Robert  Baden-Powell's  'Indian  Memories'  are 
so  varied  and  entertaining  that,  whichever  of  them  one  selects  to 
write  about,  others  equally  tempting  must  be  omitted." 

Daily  Mail. — "  His  book  is  bright  and  cheerful  and  full  of  the 
joy  of  life.  Its  pleasant,  healthy  pages  are  illustrated  by  the 
author's  own  clever  sketches  in  black  and  white  and  colour." 

Daily  Graphic. — "  Exceedingly  instructive  and  entertaining. 
It  is  not  merely  that  his  lively  pen  is  here  seen  at  its  best,  but  that 
in  addition  he  has  given  us  a  whole  gallery  of  admirable  pictures, 
many  in  colour,  to  enforce  his  text.  Many  of  the  colour  drawings 
are  instinct  with  beauty,  while  the  sketches  in  black  and  white  are 
full  of  humour." 

Observer. — "  Whether  the  author  is  writing  of  Army  training 
or  practical  jokes,  of  native  servants  or  fever  cures,  of  the  Kaiser 
or  mad  mules,  he  shows  an  unfailmg  sense  of  human  interest  as 
well  as  the  faculty  of  setting  it  in  the  aptest,  vividest,  direciest 
form." 


HERBERT     JENKINS      LIMITED 
12  ARUNDEL  PLACE  HAYMARKET  S.W. 


MY    RECOLLECTIONS 

Of  Australia  and  Elsewhere.  1 842-1914.  By  the 
HON.  JOHN  MILDRED  CREED,  M.D.,  Member  of 
the  Legislative  Council,N.S.W.  With  16  illustrations. 
Demy  8vo.     16/-  net.    Inland  Postage  6d.  extra. 

For  the  last  forty  years  the  Hon.  John  Mildred  Creed 
has  been  a  prominent  figure  in  Austrahan  politics,  and 
during  that  time  he  has  met  all  the  leading  politicians 
as  well  as  the  distinguished  personalities  who  have 
visited  Austraha.  His  book  teems  with  anecdotes  of 
well-known  people,  and  so  wide  is  his  interest  and  know- 
ledge that  few  volumes  in  recent  years  have  dealt  with 
such  varied  topics  and  subjects.  For  instance,  one 
chapter  deals  with  the  horse  in  Austraha,  a  second  with 
bushrangers,  and  a  third  with  the  Costa  Rica  Packet 
Case.  Among  his  good  stories  are  two  of  King  George  V. 
that  will  be  new  to  most  people. 

UP  AND  DOWN  THE  WORLD 

By  a  Passionate  Pilgrim.  With  16  Full-page  Illus- 
trations. Demy  8vo.  Price  10/6  net.  Inland 
Postage  6d.  extra. 

This  book  contains  the  reminiscences  of  a  remarkable 
woman,  who  prefers  to  preserve  her  anonymity,  although 
she  is  known  as  a  writer  of  charming  books.  Her 
recollections  have  a  quaint  old-world  charm,  particularly 
those  dealing  with  the  narrow  Scotch  atmosphere  in 
which  she  was  brought  up.  She  has  the  power  of  giving 
vivid  impressions  of  her  surroundings,  and  she  has  been 
fortunate  alike  in  her  friendships  and  in  her  travels. 
There  are  portraits  in  the  book  which  will  be  easily 
recognisable,  and  throughout  the  whole  there  is  a  deUcate 
and  subtle  humour. 

A  KING'S    FAVOURITE 
A  Study  Based  upon  UnpubUshed  Documents.     By 
CLAUDE  SAINT-ANDRE.    With  an  Introduction 
by  PIERRE  DE  NOLHAC,  and  16  Illustrations. 
Demy  8vo.     12/6  net.     Inland  Postage  6d.  extra. 

HERBERT       JENKINS        LIMITED 
12   ARUNDEL    PLACE    HAYMARKET    S.W. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 

Los  Angeles 

This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 


U»*»«» 


•D  LD-UR 


APR'23fE?ff 


JUN2  51984 


Form  L9-Serie8  444 


^    UfiYOB 

APR  3  0  1983 


m3 


REC'O  ID-Utt 


APR  121985 


QL  OCT   51987 


.  slF'fe* 


29 


r^i  III 


3  1158  00289  1231 


UC  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 


A     000  797  624     4 


